“Hugo’s out for the season. We had the results back. Obviously disappointing, but we kind of feared that initially. We did some more tests and he won’t play for us again this season,” Tottenham interim manager Ryan Mason said of club captain Hugo Lloris on Friday.
The Frenchman sustained a thigh injury midway through Spurs’ 6-1 mauling by Newcastle United last month. It could prove to be his final game for the club.
90min understands that the north Londoners will look to bring in a new goalkeeper in the summer transfer market, with Valencia’s Giorgi Mamardashvili, Brentford’s David Raya, Porto’s Diogo Costa and Inter’s Andre Onana all targets.
Lloris still has a year left to run on his contract, but the implication of bringing in a new stopper is that Tottenham no longer need their current skipper.
When he signed that deal in January 2022, it made at least a bit of sense. He wasn’t in a steep decline yet and though he wasn’t in the mould of an Alisson or an Ederson, recently-appointed head coach Antonio Conte needed stability and leadership.
Like most things in the Italian’s reign though, it’s a decision that has eventually hindered Spurs this season. Is it any coincidence that Lloris has often proved to be symbolic of where Tottenham have stood as a club at any given time?
He first joined Spurs on deadline day of the summer 2012 window to the surprise of fans across Europe. Lloris was one of the continent’s best up-and-coming goalkeepers, yet he had settled on a club at that point way outside the elite.
It took him a while to even displace Brad Friedel, who was the complete inverse style of goalkeeper, someone rooted to their line and only really credible for shot-stopping and communication. To put into context, the American is now 51 years of age.
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Lloris was the shining emblem of Spurs’ new era – they had hired a young coach in Andre Villas-Boas to replace Harry Redknapp, signed the unique Mousa Dembele to fill the hole left by Luka Modric and soon moved into a state-of-the-art training facility.
Their goalkeeper was now in the same conversations as Manuel Neuer because of his quickness off the line and sweeping ability. Tottenham could now play with the high line that would become one of the top tactical trends of the decade.
During his first three seasons in north London, Lloris quickly established himself as one of the Premier League’s top goalkeepers, probably the best outside David de Gea. He was appointed captain under…
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