According to reports from The Express this morning, Tottenham star Hugo Lloris has insisted he’s happy at White Hart Lane despite being tipped to join Manchester United during the summer.
What’s the word?
Using a rather hypobolic, misleading title, The Express claim Hugo Lloris has ‘opened up’ on his ‘failed move to Manchester United’ in the build-up to Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League clash with FK Karabakh this evening.
He said; “I am happy with Tottenham. The only thing I can say is I am happy with Tottenham and will do my best to get the best results possible. I do not talk about my future or my past; I am just focused on the game tomorrow and the Premier League as well. There are a lot of competitions for me to play. I am happy to be at Tottenham and their captain.”
The comments seem almost unrelated, considering the France international didn’t even mention Manchester United, but they’re not in a vacuum; as This Is Futbol reported earlier this month, the Spurs N0.1 quipped just days after the summer window slammed shut; “A lot of things were said and written – there could have been a development there but the desired movement didn’t happen.”
The assumption is that Lloris was speaking about either Manchester United or PSG, who were both strongly linked with him throughout the summer.
How good is he?
Hugo Lloris’ form compared to the rest of the Premier League’s top six
Easily the best goalkeeper in the Premier League outside of the top four and one of the best outside of the Champions League. Indeed, Lloris recorded the most saves of any goalkeeper in the Premiership’s top six last season, a whopping 89, and since arriving at White Hart Lane from Lyon in 2012 has consistently demonstrated top-class ability – most particularly in terms of shot-stopping and sweeping for the defence.
He’s also the captain of the France national team, as well as Spurs, and won three Goalkeeper of the Year awards in the space of four years during his time in Ligue 1.
Why would he want to leave Spurs, why didn’t the deal happen and could United revive their interest?
Lloris is never too far away from making comments about his desire to play Champions League football, which the Lilywhites currently can’t offer him. He sees it as vital to retaining the skipper’s armband for Les Tricolores and claimed in June that he “works towards [playing in the CL] every day” – although whether he meant that individually or as a collective with Spurs remains open to interpretation.
The Manchester United deal didn’t happen because, quite simply, the David De Gea to Real Madrid deal didn’t happen. The Spain international’s long-awaited move to the Bernabeu collapsed at the final minute as crucial paperwork missed La Liga’s 11pm deadline on August 31st, leading to two completely different accounts of what went wrong.
The Red Devils have since made De Gea the best-paid goalkeeper in the world, tying him down to four more years at Old Trafford. But skeptics continue to speculate he could still join Los Blancos in a year’s time, albeit at significantly more cost to the European giants.
As an equally speedy and almost talismanic shot-stopper, Lloris has always felt like the natural successor to De Gea and his proven pedigree in the Premier League is another huge bonus when compared to the likes of Ajax’s Jasper Cillessen and Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas, who are also in the frame to fill the Spaniard’s void. So if De Gea heads to Madrid next summer, it’s highly possible United will launch a bid for the Lilywhites goalkeeper as his direct replacement.
What kind of price?
Tottenham’s highest transfer fees received – all of which have come under Daniel Levy. Is he the best negotiator in the Premier League?
The Express moot £20million, which is a rather sizable fee for a goalkeeper. The record fee is still held by Gigi Buffon, who cost Juventus £10million more back in 2001. But prior sources have quoted double that amount for Lloris in the past and White Hart Lane chairman Daniel Levy is particularly famed for his ability to drive a hard bargain – especially when surrendering Spurs’ top talents to rival Premier League clubs.
With the Frenchman’s contract not due to expire for another four years, Tottenham hold all the cards at the moment, which could force United to pursue cheaper alternatives.
How reliable is the story?
As previously insinuated, this almost isn’t a story at all. Unsurprisingly, a Tottenham player has revealed he’s happy to be playing for Tottenham during a press conference about Tottenham. Anything else, like ‘Tottenham are rubbish and I wish I was at Manchester United’ would be real news, but this simply The Express capitalising on the opportunity to publish a click-bait headline and get a few more page views – something This Is Futbol knows plenty about!
That being said, the comments Lloris made earlier this month regarding the mystery development that never happened are considerably more interesting – although we’ll probably never know the truth behind them and how close he was to actually leaving Spurs.
If The Express article serves one genuine purpose, however, it’s reminding us that top clubs were probably interested in Lloris during the summer and they probably will be again next summer too.
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Seriously? With a headline like this you talking about click-bait? You should just go and jump in the ocean!