Tottenham hero launches unexpected attack on club’s transfer policy, revealing Levy obsession

Oliver Harden 26 Mar 2024 6:45 PM

Hugo Lloris looks dejected with the Tottenham Hotspur badge alongside him

Hugo Lloris officially left Tottenham in January after almost 12 years of service

Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has aimed a dig at the club’s transfer policy, claiming chairman Daniel Levy was more interested in the new stadium than strengthening the squad after the 2019 Champions League final.

Having arrived in north London in the summer of 2012, Lloris left Spurs for Major League Soccer outfit Los Angeles FC in January after falling out of favour under new manager Ange Postecoglou.

Along with the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Lloris was a key member of the most successful Spurs squad of the Premier League era under Mauricio Pochettino, culminating in the club reaching the Champions League final in 2019.

Spurs’ appearance in the final against Liverpool came less than two months after the club played their first Premier League fixture in the new-look, £1billion Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Pochettino’s side lost 2-0 in Madrid, with the Argentine manager sacked just months later after a poor start to the following season.

Speaking to the Times, Lloris has said the Tottenham squad peaked at the 2019 final, with the club preferring to focus its energies on the new ground rather than build from a position of strength on the pitch.

He said: “We just reached our maximum as a team at that Champions League final.

“Probably it was the right time to refresh the team but it was not the right time for the club, who were focused on the new stadium.

“They were financially more focused on the stadium than on the team at that moment.

“Now there are green lights, they are focused on the football project and I don’t see why it won’t work.”

Hugo Lloris opens up on Postecoglou relationship as Spurs exit loomed

Having spent the first half of this season in the shadows at Tottenham following Postecoglou’s signing of Guglielmo Vicario, Lloris has revealed he decided to wait for the right move rather than force a summer exit, describing his Spurs departure as “the end of an era.”

And he denied that there was tension between him and Postecoglou as he prepared to move on, insisting they had a “cordial relationship” with Lloris glowing about the Australian manager’s style of football.

He explained: “When I retired from the national team after the World Cup, what was happening to the club meant I was on a different page.

I had a conversation with Daniel [Levy] and we felt – on my side, but also on the club’s side – that it was the end of an era.

“He felt the club needed to start something new and I totally understood. It was also my feeling.

“We decided to split ways but even if I couldn’t find the right spot in the summer I stayed patient and was waiting for the right move.

“I know it seemed a bit weird from the outside but I committed to the training sessions and I was preparing myself to leave.

“When Ange arrived the situation was clear. The club presented to him the situation about the goalkeepers, the club decided to bring in Vicario.

“So with Ange, there was never any problem. There was a cordial relationship, with respect, there was no issue.

“Ange has a really good idea about football, he has his own convictions and he has made a huge amount of difference in a really short period of time.

“He has brought a different style of football to what we were used to in the last four or five years.

“Before it was more about transition, today it’s an aggressive team, about possession football and a really offensive team which the Spurs fans expect.

“It reminds me of the way we played with Poch.”

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Tottenham Hotspur Hugo Lloris