Tottenham were rather unfortunate to see their first choice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris suffer an injury in the opening few weeks of the season. The French goalkeeper suffered a hamstring injury that is set to keep him on the sidelines until September 18. The international break meant that Lloris was going to miss only three games for Spurs. However, Mauricio Pochettino did not want to take any risks and the club brought in Pau Lopez from Espanyol on a loan deal.
It was reported that Spurs were considering signing the player on a permanent basis, but there remains a huge difference in the valuation of the player by the two clubs. While Espanyol are desperate to send him out for his buyout clause of £13 million, Spurs were not interested in paying more than £2 million for someone who will essentially be the third choice goalkeeper if he does not make the expected progress. A Spain under 21 international, Lopez was far from making a senior appearance but he was recently called up for the friendly against Bosnia. He did appear in one game for the Catalonian national team.
It is highly unlikely that Lopez will become a first team regular for Spain considering that David de Gea is set to hold the spot unless any injuries or poor form prevents him from playing. The 6 ft 2 in goalkeeper from Espanyol has spent his entire career with the Catalan club. He is likely to face the same issues that plagued De Gea during his first few years at Manchester United. Lopez will struggle to deal with crosses coming into the box and the physicality from opposition strikers and defenders in set pieces.
Lopez is not yet outstanding in any regard, but the 21-year-old has shown an issue when it comes to dealing with close range shots. He is also not excellent at distributing the ball quickly, which is something that Hugo Lloris is widely praised for. It would take time for the player to fine-tune his goalkeeping skills. Lopez would have to come up with his development only in training, as he is unlikely to get any first-team opportunities once Lloris comes back to the first-team. Michael Vorm will continue to be his understudy with Lopez being the third choice goalkeeper.
Only time will tell if he will be able to convince Tottenham about a permanent move to White Hart Lane or not.
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