2023-09-02 10:37:50
This Saturday, September 2, 2023 in the morning, Hugo Lloris is still a Tottenham player where his contract still runs until June 2024. The summer transfer window, completed the day before in most European championships, did not therefore make it possible to settle the situation of the record holder of the selections in the France team (145).
This status quo will not fail, however, to quickly pose a problem, even to lead to an impasse. Spurs must, in fact, reduce their squad in view of the official list of 25 players (over 21) that each Premier League club must provide by September 13. Asked about this on August 25, coach Ange Postecoglou hinted that Lloris, 36, would not be included.
Aware of the situation, the native of Nice is ready for the time being to accept it and to demonstrate on a daily basis the same professionalism established as a rule of conduct since the start of his career, pending a possible opening in the coming weeks. In some championships, the transfer window ends in September, notably in Turkey (September 15) in Qatar (September 18), or in the very popular Saudi Pro League (September 7). The possibility of being recruited as a joker represents another possibility for Lloris, but only in England.
For the record, he was not retained this season for the first three Premier League games and Italian rookie Guglielmo Vicario, who arrived this summer from Empoli, kept the cage, with Fraser Forster as an understudy on the bench. The same will apply this Saturday for the trip to Burnley.
The 2018 world champion and 2022 World Cup finalist is coming out of a very mixed club season, between injuries (tearing of one of the tendons of the quadriceps of the thigh on April 23) and irregular performances. He, like Tottenham, who had initially agreed to let him go free, had decided to turn the page but the divorce is slow. During the week, Lloris keeps in shape at the Enfield training center, north of the English capital, but on the sidelines of the Postecoglou group.
He rejects Newcastle’s late offer
With the Australian technician of Greek origin, landed in June from Celtic Glasgow, relations are, moreover, almost non-existent. “I want other things, but I don’t forget that I still have a year of contract and that in football it is difficult to predict what will happen…”, recognized Lloris with Nice- Morning in early June.
In recent months, it has aroused the interest of Saudi formations (Al-Hilal…). His name has also been associated with PSG, Inter Milan, Lazio and even more recently with OM. Other clubs, whose identity has not leaked, have also come to the information. Concretely, he never had the slightest direct contact with Paris and no more with Marseille. “OM was surely a maneuver initiated by Fabio Paratici (the former CEO of Tottenham who resigned in April 2023, but still influential) very close to Pablo Longoria, the Marseille president, to find a way out for a more in court at the Spurs, ”says a follower of the London club.
Lazio would have, according to various media, offered a two-year contract with an optional year. But Lloris had not taken up the offer from the Laziale club, judging the challenge without any real guarantee. In reality, it was more of a deal that would have suited both clubs and especially Spurs, who are looking to part with their big salaries this summer, without taking into account the aspirations of the players.
As for Inter, finalist of the last Champions League, he did think of the ex-Lyonnais to succeed André Onana transferred to Manchester United. But, in the end, the choice of the Lombard board fell on the Swiss Yann Sommer. At the very end of the transfer window, Newcastle tried an approach to obtain the loan of Lloris. The Magpies coach wanted to enlist a high-level element to challenge Nick Pope, who would nevertheless have remained number 1. A proposal declined by the Frenchman.
“As an unemployed person, he could then join any championship”
“The market for goalkeepers is always special, even narrow for the best paid. Hugo wants a project with a positive club to evolve in complete serenity. He is not on the street, even if the atmosphere in Tottenham is starting to be a little heavy, observes an agent experienced in the mysteries of the British market. Today, he also prioritizes stability for his family. He does not try to move to move. Or only to solve the problem that the club has created”.
His family – he is the father of three children – is, it is true, fully fulfilled in London where she put down her bags in 2012. Since 2016, his wife, Marine, has even created “Manège en Sucre”, a clothing brand in success for children, and more particularly for girls. “There is also potentially the possibility of early termination of the contract. As an unemployed person, he could then join any championship, ”concludes someone familiar with the matter.
In which case, the Nice track, where it all began, could take shape. After the departure of Kasper Schmeichel, approved on September 1, the young Teddy Boulhendi occupies the place of goalkeeper number 2 in the workforce of Francesco Farioli. But the Riviera club is considering the possibility of enlisting a free goalkeeper after the end of the transfer window.
#Mercato #early #breach #contract #joker #Premier #League #dotted #season #unclear #future #Lloris