Premier League

Lamela hails “amazing” Gazzaniga

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Erik Lamela has hailed “amazing” Tottenham teammate Paulo Gazzaniga and claimed he is delighted at his fellow Argentine’s international call-up.

Spurs trio Lamela, Gazzaniga and Juan Foyth have all been included in the Argentina squad for a double header of friendlies against Mexico over the next few days.

Goalkeeper Gazzaniga has been named in the squad for the first time at the age of 26 and his more experienced teammate insists it is fully deserved.

“I am so happy for them because they deserve to have a chance in the national team,” Lamela said, as quoted by Football London. “They are young and doing well so for me it is better, I like to go altogether.

“Paulo [Gazzaniga] is showing every training session that he can play in the Premier League and when he played he did amazing.

“I am so happy for him but he didn’t surprise me because I know he is an amazing keeper.”

OPINION

Given that Gazzaniga has only made six appearances for Spurs and was regarded as their third-choice goalkeeper until he was handed a starting spot ahead of Michel Vorm in recent clashes against West Ham and PSV Eindhoven, Lamela is perhaps getting a little carried away in claiming the out-of-the-blue international call is fully justified. The Argentine is not especially young – he turns 27 in January – although goalkeepers are later developers than other players, and needs to make a sustained impact fairly soon at a high level to prove such an assertion correct. Gazzaniga has showed good signs for Spurs this season, with that Champions League display supplemented by two appearances apiece in Premier League and League Cup matches, and it will have done his confidence the world of good that the club won all five games. He was particularly impressive against PSV, when he even threw in a Cruyff turn to delight supporters, but he surely needs a more detailed body of work before he can be considered international calibre.

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