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When Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate and goalkeeper Luke McGee went on loan to Peterborough United in League One this fall, most Spurs fans assumed that this was probably the beginning of the end of his Spurs career. While McGee is a talented enough shot-stopper, he was already mired behind Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm, and Spurs had also recently signed Pau Lopez on loan.
That seems to be the case. McGee let in 53 goals for a Peterborough side that finished 11th in League One, but also kept 10 clean sheets in 39 games. That’s enough to impress Posh manager Grant McCann, and Peterborough’s director of football Barry Fry has said that they want to sign Luke on a permanent deal.
“I went to the West Ham v Spurs match last Friday with the intention of speaking to Daniel Levy. We had a conversation, and while negotiating with Levy is never easy, I made our case and I hope we will speak again soon.
“I want to sign Luke on a free transfer, but I would give Spurs a huge sell-on fee. It makes sense for us and I think it makes sense for Spurs as well as, good as Luke is, he is not near their first team and I understand they will be signing another goalkeeper soon anyway.
“We like Luke a lot. He’s the best goalkeeper alongside Mark Tyler in my time at the club and he will only improve. He’s a million per cent interested in coming back to us next season. He enjoyed his football, he got on well with the rest of the players and he enjoyed playing for Grant McCann.
“In our opinion he is going to be a star goalkeeper of the future, but he will get to the top a lot quicker if he was playing regular first-team football.”
So, there are a couple of interesting tidbits in Fry’s comments. First, Fry’s willingness to sign him on a free transfer but with a large sell-on fee is probably a win-win for Spurs. McGee’s Spurs contract doesn’t expire until 2019, which gives Daniel Levy some leverage. If McGee explodes and the Posh flip him for a profit later, Spurs will get some of that windfall, which is not bad for a player that probably will never feature for Spurs’ first team. On the other hand, we know Levy is a good negotiator, and he’ll have to weigh that offer against actually getting money in hand for him. McGee probably won’t command a huge transfer fee either way, so maybe this is a push.
But secondly, Fry hinting that Spurs “will be signing another goalkeeper soon anyway” is interesting too. Most people probably assume that this keeper is probably Lopez, but Pau never did make his Spurs debut in goal this season. If something goes awry or Spurs decide not to invoke their purchase option, then there could be a new addition to Tottenham’s keeper corps. (That said, it’s almost certainly Pau.)
McGee is almost certainly going somewhere this summer. He’s probably found his level (for now) in League One, has virtually no shot of having an impact on the club next season, and Peterborough seems like as good a spot as any to land. We’ll see what Levy decides to do.