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There is a bit of the Darren Anderton about 20-year-old Bryan Gil who Tottenham are on the verge of signing for £21million (€25m) plus Erik Lamela.
When Spurs signed Anderton from Portsmouth in 1992 he came with the nickname ‘Shaggy’ after the Scooby-Doo character, and as well as being the same age and position, Gil also bears a passing resemblance to Scooby’s side-kick.
Spurs fans will be happy enough if Gil emulates Anderton who Tottenham paid £1.75m in 1992.
There is potential for him to reach similar standards but Anderton had already scored in a FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool before Terry Venables swooped, Gil is yet to have his big moment against a pedigree opponent.
There are shades of Darren Anderton (right) about Bryan Gil (left), and Tottenham fans will be hoping for big things once he seals his move from Sevilla
Last season he was at Eibar who went down. For long spells he was their best player and his form earned him a call-up to the Spain team. But in two appearances for the national side he failed to convince Luis Enrique that he was quite ready for senior international football.
He made a substitute appearance against Greece and then started away at Georgia. But he was taken off at half-time in that game with Spain losing 1-0 and it was his replacement Dani Olmo who came on and got the winner in a 2-1 victory. Ferran Torres also scored.
Gil is still some way behind those two players but there is huge promise and that’s why he is in Japan for the Olympics at the moment.
Eibar’s coach last season Jose Luis Mendilibar is an expert on developing young talent and also sees the potential.
‘At his age he’s capable of [becoming] anything,’ he told Spanish radio Onda Cero this week. ‘If he goes to Tottenham he will become a better player for sure.’
The youngster spent last season on loan with Eibar where he caught the attention of Europe
Mendilibar had a young David Silva on loan at Eibar when the former Manchester City midfielder was starting out and helped developed
