It's been a bit of a turbulent campaign for Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, albeit marked with plenty of promise. But then it's never plain sailing in the Premier League, is it?
After falling by the wayside last term, chairman Daniel Levy appointed the Australian to lead the revival and entering the final stretch, Spurs are just two points off top four, with a game in hand on fourth-placed Aston Villa.
As we all know, the defence wasn't great last year, and while much criticism is laid onto the names of Eric Dier, Clement Lenglet and co, it's easy to forget that the man between the sticks, Hugo Lloris, sadly ended his lengthy Lilywhites career with a whimper.
Hugo Lloris' 22/23 season in numbers
Tottenham signed Lloris from Lyon in a £13m package way back in 2012 and the 37-year-old completed 447 matches for the club across more than a decade of service, named club captain in 2015.
He was on the books until the 2023/24 campaign's midpoint but he failed to register a single appearance under Postecoglou, in any competition. He was not trusted.
Featuring 25 times in the Premier League last year and playing all six Champions League group games, Lloris was discernibly declining and played a big part in a Tottenham team that shipped 63 league goals across the year.
These poor displays led pundit Chris Sutton to rebuke the veteran shot-stopper's campaign, saying: "There can be no disputing Lloris has been a brilliant goalkeeper and there is a real pressure that comes with being the person between the sticks. But there can also be no denying he has turned into a liability."
Perhaps most shocking of all, Lloris made four direct errors leading to a goal in the Premier League last term. Inexcusable. No wonder all the stops were pulled to secure the right replacement at the dawn of a new era.
Not only was his effort on the pitch leaving more than a little to be desired, but the 6 foot 2 Lloris was also earning a pretty pay packet that only underscored the urgency to ship him on.
How much Hugo Lloris cost Spurs last season
Lloris penned a new contract with Spurs in January 2022, running until the end of the current campaign, but the former Les Bleus star would not feature after that Newcastle fixture and signed for Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC on a free transfer in December 2023.
In the time between playing his final fixture and departing Tottenham on a permanent transfer, Lloris actually cost Levy and co around £3.6m in wages, not playing a single minute of football.
Hugo Lloris
£100k-per-week
Richarlison
£90k-per-week
Pedro Porro
£85k-per-week
Rodrigo Bentancur
£75k-per-week
Yves Bissouma
£55k-per-week
On £100k-per-week, Lloris was earning a larger pay packet than stars such as Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison before completing his move away, underscoring how heavy the financial outpour was for a player performing at such a substandard level – and then not at all.
The 145-cap ace was hardly helped by a shoddy defence but there's little doubt that he was past his best last season and it's understandable that Postecoglou acted accordingly.
Without a doubt, Lloris is a modern legend for Tottenham and rightly cemented himself as one of the finest goalkeepers in Europe when at the acme of his development – winning the 2018 World Cup with France too – but he declined quite spectacularly last season.
His £17m replacement, Guglielmo Vicario, has been a breath of fresh air, really emphasising just how important it was to make the change for a long-time servant who left with great fondness but was perhaps a little too long in the tooth at the end.
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