Hugo Lloris was once dubbed one of the best goalkeepers in world football. The Frenchman is now in exile at Tottenham and, at 36 years of age, his exceptional career could be winding down to a disappointing conclusion.
Lloris was Tottenham’s No 1 for almost the entirety of his first 11 seasons at the club. He joined from Lyon in 2012 as one of the most exciting up-and-coming goalkeepers in European football.
Just three years later, he was appointed club captain by Mauricio Pochettino. He held the armband for eight seasons and was a spearhead in one of the most exciting periods in the club’s recent history.
Spurs came close to winning the Premier League title in 2016, eventually losing out to Leicester. The club’s first-ever Champions League final came in 2019 and, despite losing to Liverpool, fans will never forget that experience.
Lloris was the leader through that time and will be regarded as a modern-day club legend. Pochettino described him as early as 2014 as one of the world’s best.
He said: “I think he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, not just the Premier League. He is unbelievable. [Manuel] Neuer, [Wojciech] Szczesny… I think there’s a lot of good keepers. But Lloris is one of them.”
Pochettino wasn’t on his own. Kieran Tripper felt the same in 2018, the same year Lloris led France to World Cup glory, telling talkSPORT: “Hugo is, for me, one of the best in the world. You see him year after year the amount he saves us and the amount of points he saves us.”
Fast forward five years and Lloris’ time in north London is coming towards a sad ending. He confirmed in June that he wanted to leave Spurs in the summer, calling it “an end of an era.”
But for whatever reason, that hasn’t happened yet. There was clearly no move that attracted him enough and he even turned down an 11th-hour return to Nice on deadline day as his role wasn’t clear.
Lloris therefore is currently out in the wilderness at Spurs. Guglielmo Vicario joined from Empoli in the summer and has taken the Premier League by storm.
But Lloris can’t even get on the bench. Fraser Forster has kept his spot as No 2 under Ange Postecoglou so far this season.
Lloris is becoming somewhat of a forgotten man for neutral supporters, many of whom would be surprised to learn he is still a contracted player at Tottenham. But Spurs supporters won’t forget the impact he had in over a decade between the sticks.
