Hugo Lloris has done this before. For the 10th time of asking, he is assessing Tottenham’s season and working out the chances of success.
When he arrived here, signed in 2012 by Andre Villas Boas, he was a 25-year-old with a growing reputation in France.
Today he is a World Cup winner and recognised as one of the world’s best keepers. He is on his sixth manager in Nuno Espirito Santo, yet still there has been no trophy with Spurs, despite a number of near misses.
Hugo Lloris is lining-up for his 10th season in the Premier League in goal for Tottenham
Harry Kane’s looming transfer to Manchester City is hanging over Spurs ahead of their opener
As well as taking on Manchester City on Sunday, he is captain of a club who have to navigate the politics of their best player wanting to leave, with the opponents coincidentally his club of choice. So it is a complex set of challenges Lloris faces in what could be his final season at the club, yet he remains characteristically upbeat.
‘It’s going to be my season No 10 for Spurs, time is already going fast,’ he says. ‘But it will be with the same ambition, the same motivation. Trying to prepare myself — prepare my body, prepare my mind — for a long season and make sure I’m ready to give my best and try to help the team to achieve things we all want to achieve.
‘There is a new sporting director [Fabio Paratici] at the club, he is coming with new ideas, with his football vision, his experiences. And then there is also the manager, so it’s a new era at the club.
‘And the most important thing today is to rediscover the confidence inside the team after a tough season like the last one, to try to build something strong.’
The north Londoners get going against Manchester City, the club pursuing their frontman
Kane is linked with a £150m transfer to the English champions, but is back in Spurs training
Perhaps that will be hard until the Harry Kane situation is resolved. Lloris is candid about the impasse between Kane and club at present.
‘At every club there are players who leave, players who come and the most important thing is to keep the right energy inside the changing room, to welcome in the best way the new signings and make sure they feel well.
‘And then try to lead the team in the right direction, try to make sure everyone is going in the same direction as a team and, for sure, things will be easier when the transfer market will be closed.’
Kane trained with the team for the first time on Friday, having worked alone at the training ground during his five days of quarantine there after returning from a holiday in the Bahamas and the US.
It is still disputed whether he was permitted extra time off due to playing in the Euro 2020 final for England, or whether he should have been back on Monday, August 2. That tension, though, appears to have settled for now.
‘Harry is a professional and he is here with a smile, he’s here with his team-mates,’ says Lloris. ‘There is a situation in the air, we cannot hide that, but it belongs to him and the club. If the manager needs him, he will be professional.
‘Everywhere is the same. It can happen anywhere, at any club. The most important thing is to feel that the player is professional and is respectful to his team-mates and that is completely the case, there is no doubt about that. From my experience there were some different cases that were more complicated but, as I say, it belongs to the club and the player and as long as it doesn’t affect the team it’s not a problem.
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‘Friday is only the first day he trained with the team. The most important for me as the captain and a player is to see my team-mates going in the same direction, together, making sure you are going to start the season. But as I said before, we are in a period that a lot of things can happen.
‘It’s the same all around the world, at any club and that is also the message from the manager: he just wants players focused on training sessions and focused on the competition and then we will see what will happen. As a player, a team-mate, I have no words to say, it belongs to the club and Harry to find the solution.’
Lloris is correct in his assessment that a new era at the club beckons. The core of the Mauricio Pochettino team has departed, Erik Lamela and Toby Alderweireld having left this summer, with Danny Rose also leaving on a free and Jan Vertonghen having left last year.
Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker are busy winning trophies at Atletico Madrid and Manchester City respectively, as was Christian Eriksen at Inter, before his cardiac arrest at the Euros this summer, from which he mercifully recovered. Kane may now also leave, though the club insist not. It has been a time for farewells and new starts.
‘We know that is part of the game and that’s why you need to enjoy the moment because you don’t know what is going to happen,’ says Lloris. ‘Toby has been a magnificent servant for the club, also Joe [Hart], in one season he showed his professionalism and brought his energy to the team and he was a fantastic team-mate.’
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For Lloris too, the future beyond this season is uncertain, as his deal runs out next summer. He will be free to speak to foreign clubs in January and has yet to start talks on a new contract.
Lloris is clear in his assessment of today’s opponents, when it is suggested that playing them early might work to Tottenham’s advantage, given that they had so many players involved in the Copa America and Euro finals.
‘No!’ he says, with a shake of the head. ‘It’s never a good time to be facing City, they have so much quality. It’s always tough to play them but it’s also always exciting. It’s the first game of the season, in front of the fans, so we have to use this energy from the stands around the pitch.
‘When you leave the pitch the most important feeling to have is to leave without regrets. We need to make the game really hard for them and believe in our chance.’
Tottenham have done good business already in the summer, acquiring Bryan Gil, the 21-year-old winger with a burgeoning reputation in Spain, and Cristian Romero, ranked the best centre-half in Serie A. But Lloris argues that the most precious commodity at present for this team is time.
Lloris believes the club are entering into a new era under manager Nuno Espirio Santo
‘We can’t only be focused on this season,’ he said. ‘Sometimes it’s better to step back a little bit to come back stronger. When we think about today, you have to prepare as well the future, to make sure you have strong basics, inside the team, inside the club to make sure you can keep progressing season after season.
‘It was the case under Mauricio Pochettino and then there was a bit of up and down and now the focus is to reach consistency.
‘We will be competitive, that is our motivation. But also we have to recognise that there is quality all around the league. That’s why we all love the Premier League and that’s why it’s the most exciting league in the world.
‘It’s difficult to predict what is going to happen. As a player, the only thing I can say is that I just want to make sure all the players are giving their best every day in training sessions and do their best in competition and see where we will be later in the season.
‘The focus now is to find the confidence and to understand perfectly what the manager demands. As I said before, it’s a new era beginning at the club.’