Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has committed to Antonio Conte’s Tottenham project by signing a new two-and-a-half-year contract with the Premier League club.
Lloris, 35, had entered the final six months of his previous deal and was entitled to discuss an end-of-season free transfer with foreign clubs.
The shot-stopper was linked with his boyhood club Nice, where he came through the academy before spending three years in the first team, but will be staying in north London.
Tottenham confirmed the deal that will take Lloris past 10 years with the club, with the goalkeeper set to remain at Spurs until the end of the 2023-24 season.
Hugo Lloris joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2012 from Ligue 1 side, Lyon. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
The news is a huge boost for manager Antonio Conte, who took on the Tottenham top job in November and made it clear he saw Lloris as part of the team’s future.
Conte had been optimistic a deal would be agreed, recently expressing optimism Lloris would sign “because he loves Tottenham and Tottenham loves him”.
Now that has come to fruition, meaning Tottenham need no immediate strengthening in the goalkeeping department, that boxed ticked by this move.
Lloris joined Spurs from Ligue 1 side, Lyon, in August 2012 and helped the team reach the 2019 Champions League final under Mauricio Pochettino.
He became Tottenham captain in 2015 and has worn the armband for his country, France since 2012, leading Les Bleus to World Cup glory in 2018.
Hugo Lloris won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France as the captain of the side. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
Since skippering France to that triumph in Russia, Lloris has underlined his status as one of Europe’s premier goalkeepers.
From August 2018 to the present day, Lloris can be shown to have prevented 21.3 goals. That is based on a calculation starting with Tottenham’s expected goals on target (xGOT) conceded total of 180.3 and deducting the actual number of goals, other than own goals, that they have shipped during that time (159).
Only four goalkeepers from Europe’s top leagues have a better goal prevention record in this same three-and-a-half-season period, according to Opta data. Those four are Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid (25.3), Liverpool’s Alisson (22.9), Sevilla’s Yassine Bounou (21.6), and Atletico Madrid mainstay Jan Oblak (21.6).
Tottenham made a poor start to the season under Nuno Espirito Santo but have been revitalised in the Premier League by Conte’s arrival. They have kept five clean sheets in nine games in the competition since the former Inter and Chelsea boss arrived and have soared to fifth place, with games in hand on those ahead of them like Arsenal.
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