It won't be long at all until Tottenham fans get to see Guglielmo Vicario in action for the very first time. With Saturday marking the beginning of July, Ange Postecoglou's Spurs team will soon be jetting off across the globe for their pre-season games against West Ham, Leicester City and AS Roma.
Vicario, fresh from his transfer from Italian side Empoli that was completed on Tuesday evening, will be in line to feature in the games in Perth, Bangkok and Singapore as the new head coach gets his plans in place for the upcoming season. Earning rave reviews in Italy over the past couple of years, Tottenham will have some goalkeeper on their hands if the 26-year-old can replicate his outstanding Serie A form in the Premier League.
Going to have some big gloves to fill after Hugo Lloris' 11 years in north London, former Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel has opened up on the learning phase facing Vicario once he makes his Premier League bow. Rated incredibly highly in Italy, Friedel has stated that the Italian must "navigate the Premier League" if he is to be considered one of the best in the world.
"Since his name has been brought up I've watched all of his saves and he looks a solid shot-stopper," said Friedel, when speaking to football.london on behalf of OLBG. "I think Carlo Cudicini said it best as in order to consider yourself one of the very best in the world, you have to be able to navigate the Premier League as well. It doesn't mean that Premier League teams are better than Read Madrid and Barcelona, I'm not getting into that debate, but goalkeeping-wise it is a hard league.
"You look at traits and I hope for Tottenham he can come in and replace Hugo if they are to replace him or if they are to keep Hugo for one more year. He's going to have a little bit of a learning curve for sure. I think he has the capabilities of being very good but there's going to be a learning phase for him that's for certain."
A changing of the guard will take place this summer with Vicario replacing Lloris as Tottenham's No.1. With the new man going to need to adapt to life in the Premier League, Friedel has stated that Spurs fans are going to have to be patient and it is going to be vital to see how the new shot-stopper reacts when he does make a mistake.
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"The handover isn't so much the issue," added the former Liverpool goalkeeper. "Players who come into clubs don't really look at the history of a player and who I'm replacing, they look at their own career and their own abilities and they go in. From a perception point of view of handing the gloves over, that's more going to be the talk of the town.
"I think what the Tottenham supporters are going to have to do if he is to come in as No.1 is be patient. Playing in the Premier League is different and you can concede certain types of goals in some leagues and it's accepted and not accepted.
"It's the type of goal and when you make your mistake, things of that nature. All goalkeepers make mistakes, it's how you recover from them. Until I see that in the Premier League when he does make a mistake and how he recovers, then we'll know if he can be the incumbent as Hugo Lloris was."
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