REAL MADRID ‘AGREEMENT’ MEANS SERGIO REGUILON IS STUCK IN LIMBO AT TOTTENHAM

Sergio Reguilon appears to be stuck in limbo at Tottenham Hotspur with neither Atletico nor La Liga rivals Real Madrid likely to buy the Spain international next summer, according to Estadio Deportivo.

After missing almost the first two months of 2022/23, Reguilon would have known that he couldn’t afford not to seize the opportunity belatedly afforded to him by Diego Simeone at the Wanda Metropolitano.

But maybe Reguilon’s enthusiasm got the best of him. Because, in just his fourth Atletico outing, the former Sevilla flyer picked up two yellow cards in just four minutes in a 1-1 draw against promoted Almeria. Even after returning from suspension, he hasn’t been seen since.

There is no option-to-buy clause in the Atletico contract Reguilon signed last summer. Even if there was, the chances of Simeone triggering it would look decidedly slim. Reguilon has played just 84 minutes of La Liga football all season. He has more red cards than starts in red-and-white.

IS SERGIO REGUILON HEADING BACK TO TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR?
Estadio Deportivo believe the Madrid-born 26-year-old will almost certainly to return to Tottenham this summer. Simeone, the report adds, simply ‘does not trust’ Reguilon; opting for the more defensively-secure Reinildo on the left-hand side instead.

Atletico’s city rivals Real Madrid do, however, have a buy-back clause in Reguilon’s contract. But, having agreed to bring back a different La Fabrica graduate in Rayo Vallecano’s Fran Garcia, another door appears to have closed in Reguilon’s face.

“Fran Garcia will go to Real Madrid at the end of this season,” confirms Rayo president Raul Martin Presa. “We have reached an agreement.

“For them, it would have been the best thing on a sporting level (to bring Garcia back now). Real Madrid is a club that acts sportingly. We have to thank them (for letting us keep him for another few months).”

Reguilon, then, finds himself in a rather unenviable position. Unwanted by his parent club, and not in the long-term plans of Atletico or Real either. Perhaps the best case scenario, for the £25 million Tottenham misfit, is for Antonio Conte to walk away from North London at the end of the current campaign, replaced by a coach willing to give everyone at Spurs a clean slate and a fresh start.

Reguilon already has Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon ahead of him in the Tottenham pecking order, however. And that is without mentioning Destiny Udogie’s impending arrival from Udinese.