All eyes will very much be on Hugo Lloris this summer with a Tottenham Hotspur exit on the cards. Serving the club so well in his 11 years in north London, the World Cup winner has signalled his intent to move on for a new challenge.
Spurs have already moved quickly to replace him, with Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario on the verge of a transfer to the Lilywhites. It remains to be seen where exactly Lloris will head if he is to move on amid previous talk over a MLS switch or a return to France.
Speaking to football.london on behalf of OLBG, Brad Friedel, who was a teammate of Lloris when the Frenchman first moved to Spurs back in 2012, has ruled out the possibility of the goalkeeper heading across the Atlantic Ocean and moving to the United States. Although Lloris turns 37 in December, Friedel believes that the Tottenham captain can still play at a "really good level" for another five or six years.
"I always thought Hugo would stay at Tottenham and retire at Tottenham," the former Blackburn Rovers ace told football.london in an exclusive interview. "Tottenham is an incredible club, a great area to live in, he has been there for over ten years and I always thought that would just be his stopping point.
"An MLS foreign goalkeeper on the wages he would want...we have a salary cap over here and it would be next to impossible. In the history of the league I think maybe once or twice was a goalkeeper a designated player. It doesn't happen often and you get a lot more incentives over here in MLS to have younger players.
"The older players, unless you're bringing in a Lionel Messi or David Beckham of course, that's different because you have so many off-field possibilities. Unless he wants to come from an enormous pay cut, I couldn't see that happening over here.
"It will be interesting if he goes back to France or if he stays. I know people will say things that I want a new chapter or new challenge but the buying club will need to be there and the selling club will need to want to do it. There's a lot that goes into it and maybe he has something already.
"He's a fit guy, there's no bodyfat, no extra weight, no nothing on his body. He's had a couple of injuries. He has probably as long as he wants to play, maybe four, five, six years in him, at a really good level, so maybe it is going back to France or to another club in England. We'll have to wait and see."
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