Tottenham Hotspur set their sights to Serie A for a possible replacement at goalkeeper

Tottenham Hotspur are in full pre-season training mode as they prepare for their first friendly of the season tomorrow while international players enjoy their holiday before returning to the club later on.

One of the possible transfer stories that has gone way under the radar is the status of club captain Hugo Lloris, who has one year remaining on his contract. There was speculation that he was looking to reunite with Mauricio Pochettino at Paris Saint-Germain, but those plans are almost certainly dead in the water now that the French giants have signed Gianluigi Donnarumma. While Hugo may be content to play out his contract and move on a free next season, the club has to prepare for the future. According to Di Marzio, Spurs have reached out to Serie A club Atalanta about Pierluigi Gollini’s availability. The story is a tad complicated, but here’s the important information:

Sarebbe un ritorno in Inghilterra per il portiere, che ha già giocato al Manchester United e all’Aston Villa. Adesso si fanno avanti gli Spurs, le parti sono al lavoro per trovare la formula giusta, sulla base di un prestito che si può allungare diventando biennale con l’inserimento anche dell’obbligo.

The idea is that Spurs would take Gollini on loan for up to two years with an obligation to buy, at least that’s what my rough translation of the article says. That doesn’t make much sense, unless it means Spurs have a year to decide and then can opt to extend the loan a second year but by doing that they are committed to a purchase.

Gollini is pretty good and has been for a couple of seasons now. He started 32 matches last season across all competitions and conceded a flat rate of one goal a match. He’s tall and fairly agile, standing 6’4”, and the overall cost for him can’t be too expensive though there’s no mention of a potential fee.

Spurs’ keeper situation needs to be sorted out quickly. Hugo is probably leaving next summer and Joe Hart’s contract expires next summer as well. Unless something changes, neither are expected back for the 2022-23 campaign. Academy graduate Alfie Whiteman would be next on the list but he is largely untested. Brandon Austin has spent the last couple of seasons on loan and is just now getting minutes with Orlando City. He’s started the last five matches for the MLS side but the jury is still very much out on him.

Gollini would be a good pick up and a loan deal would at least give Spurs some time to assess him, but this seems to be the early phases of a deal being worked out and could just be spitballing by DiMarzio. We’ll see how it progresses but this probably is a deal for a few weeks from now given Spurs have bigger fish to fry with the squad.