Jose Mourinho has demanded more from Tottenham's Giovani Lo Celso and has explained that he wants him to improve his fitness following his cameo against Brighton on Sunday.

Lo Celso must get fitter

Spurs were in action in the Premier League this weekend and they edged a 2-1 victory over the Seagulls thanks to a late Gareth Bale strike. Argentina international Lo Celso came on from the bench, playing 26 minutes in total.

The £31.5m-valued 24-year-old (Transfermarkt) has started just four games in all competitions so far this campaign, and Mourinho has urged him to improve his fitness. He said:

"Gio brought that dynamic back to the team for the last 20 minutes. He did well for us. He is a player that needs to work, no pre-season and no end to last season. He needs to recover his fitness levels, it was easy to see against Antwerp, especially to play as a central midfielder, he didn't have that fitness."

It will come

Indeed, Lo Celso is currently not yet fit enough to play a big role so far this term. Mourinho did point out why that may be - he didn't really take part in the short pre-season and he was also unavailable towards the end of the previous campaign too.

However, we are now two months into the new season, so his fitness to play for at least an hour really should be emerging. Everyone knows about his ability - he has 21 caps for his country, for example - but if his fitness levels are not to the required standard, then he can't show it. Mourinho will be hoping he makes huge strides in that department in the coming weeks.

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