Club captain Hugo Lloris extends contract at Tottenham Hotspur

Put the Tottenham Hotspur Legends XI team on standby, because Hugo Lloris is about to get a testimonial. According to Fabrizio Romano, club captain and starting keeper Hugo Lloris has come to an agreement to extend his contract at Spurs on a short-term basis.

The deal is reportedly a two year through the 2023-24 season. The new contract will ensure that Lloris will spend a full decade at the club — he joined initially in August of 2012 — a threshold that usually leads to a testimonial at the club when he eventually decides to hang up his gloves for good.

There’s been a lot of kvetching over whether or not Hugo would sign a new contract or move on to another club to finish out his career. There were suggestions that Nice, the club where he started his career and came up through the academy, were interested in bringing him home this summer. Certainly Spurs will need to start looking for a long-term replacement for Hugo between the sticks, as he’s 35 now and not getting any younger.

But based on his performances this season, Hugo’s still got it. He’s been consistently excellent for Spurs this year in trying circumstances, and has flourished under Antonio Conte, who I’m sure is tickled to still have him around. Signing him for another two years will give Tottenham time to identify a replacement for him — possibly a younger, English keeper — who can step into his role in due course.

While we need to wait for the official announcement from the club, this is unquestionably good news and I’m excited! It’s safe to say that Hugo will go down as one of, if not the, best goalkeeper to ever play for Tottenham Hotspur, and this contract basically puts that in stone. Hooray for Hugo! Put your suggestions for who should start in his eventual testimonial match in the comments below. (Can we get Brad Friedel, whom Hugo replaced, to come out of retirement for one match?)