Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur new boy Giovani Lo Celso is still some way away from being where the club want him to be in terms of his fitness.
Tottenham needed to scramble on Premier League transfer deadline day to get a deal for Lo Celso over the line, eventually signing the midfielder on a season-long loan deal from Real Betis.
He has clocked just five minutes for Tottenham since joining, coming off the bench in last weekend's draw at Manchester City.
Pochettino is determined to be patient with Lo Celso and admitted that the midfielder still has much work to do to get up to speed, following his late arrival at the club.
"I think Lo Celso is a situation that is not going to be easy", Pochettino told a press conference.
"He was in extended holidays after the Copa America, he didn’t have a proper pre-season and didn’t train too much.
"Then signed for us after a week without training. He’s training well but is still so far away from what we expect from him. We need to give him time."
The Tottenham boss insists that he is not expecting too much from Lo Celso yet and is focusing on letting the midfielder settle in and adapt to life at the club.
"He was involved [at Manchester City] and will maybe have the possibility to help the team in some points, but we won’t expect too much from him.
"We need to not put the responsibility on him, only to improve and adapt himself with us and see.
"It’s a natural process to learn and improve. In the moment he will be fit and deserves to play then sure he will have the chance like other players", Pochettino added.
Lo Celso was a priority target for Pochettino in the summer window, but the early closure of the Premier League transfer window meant he missed out on another Argentine in the shape of Juventus' Paulo Dybala.
