Antonin Kinsky was promoted to Tottenham’s No.1 by Roberto De Zerbi before the pre-season campaign.
Tottenham Hotspur surprised the fans by spending around £400 million on 10 new signings. There was one area, however, where the club chose not to make a major investment.
Following Guglielmo Vicario’s loan move to Juventus, Spurs did not spend big to sign a replacement. They snapped up veteran Martin Dubravka on a free transfer from Burnley, but he has come in as a back-up goalkeeper. Instead, Roberto De Zerbi put his faith in Antonin Kinsky.
Antonin Kinsky’s N17 career appeared to be over after a disastrous 17 minutes against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in the Champions League in March. The young shot-stopper made two catastrophic errors as Spurs found themselves 3-0 down, and then interim head coach Igor Tudor decided to take him. The 23-year-old was in tears as he made his way straight down the tunnel, with some of his teammates running behind to console him.
Michel Vorm lauds Antonin Kinsky for bouncing back from Atletico Madrid disaster
However, as fate would have it, Kinsky was given another chance due to Vicario’s injury, and he grabbed it with both hands, making crucial contributions in helping Tottenham stay in the Premier League. De Zerbi promoted him to the No.1 spot before the Czechia goalkeeper signed a new contract earlier this summer.
Now, former Spurs goalkeeper Michel Vorm has praised Kinsky for his mental fortitude to overcome a difficult phase in his footballing journey. He feels the 23-year-old is a talented goalkeeper and the way he has bounced back from the Atletico Madrid disaster will go a long way in shaping his career.
“Yes, what happened there, you don’t see it often in football. So, that says a lot, and especially as a goalkeeper, you need confidence, even if you make mistakes. In this case, and he hadn’t played a lot at that time, you make mistakes, and you come off. It’s a huge game,” Michel Vorm said in a Q/A session with the club’s official website.
“So, if you then see how he came back, it says a lot. He’s still a young goalkeeper. I followed him prior to Spurs, and you could see he was very talented, but I think how he has responded to this will shape him for the rest of his career.”
Tough start to the season
Kinsky has had a mixed start to his first season as the North London club’s No.1. He made an error that led directly to a goal in the opening-weekend 3-0 defeat to Brentford, before failing to make a single save in the 2-0 loss to Newcastle United in the next game.
The Czechia international did manage to redeem himself with back-to-back clean sheets against Nottingham Forest and Everton. Kinsky’s clean sheet run came to an end before the international break when he conceded thrice in the home defeat to Aston Villa, although he wasn’t directly at fault for any of the goals conceded.
Amid a rocky start to the campaign, reports suggest that De Zerbi has no intention of dropping Kinsky for Dubravka. The Tottenham boss remains committed to developing the youngster into a quality Premier League goalkeeper.
