Jose Mourinho rules out Lo Celso starting vs Wolves and warns Tottenham midfielder he’s a ‘few steps’ behind team-mates

TOTTENHAM manager Jose Mourinho has revealed Giovani Lo Celso is not yet at a level where he can expect to start matches.

The Argentine midfielder joined Spurs on-loan in the summer with an option to buy, but has failed to hit the ground running.

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And Mourinho has been brutally honest in his assessment of Lo Celso, conceding that at present he has better options to choose from.

He said: “Our squad is not a big squad in numbers, and he will start for sure because it’s impossible to play all the time with the same players.

“It looks obvious the way Dele is playing, Sonny. In this moment they are one step ahead.

“I couldn’t hide from you that we have a few players one step ahead because of performance. So you want to be objective and asks if he starts Sunday, no he doesn’t.”

After being sidelined for a month with a hip injury, it was expected Lo Celso would start to forge a way into the starting line-up when he returned in mid-October.

But that has not happened, something the Spurs boss says can be the case for some players who come to the Premier League.

However, Mourinho admitted he does not know when the 23-year-old’s form will improve.

“I don’t know,” he added.

“Impossible for me to say that. Some players accelerate the process, some players arrive immediately and fit in, others they take a long time. It’s difficult to say.”

Spurs travel to Wolves on Sunday at 2pm as they look to be the first team to beat the West Midlands side in the league since mid-September.

The Lilywhites currently sit seventh in the table, one point behind Wanderers and six behind Chelsea in fourth.