The Spanish goalkeeper is yet to make a single appearance for Tottenham Hotspur since signing from Espanyol.
Pau Lopez was always going to find game time difficult to come by at Tottenham Hotspur but was hardly an ambitious expectation to believe the Spaniard would have played a senior game for the club in his debut season in England.
Stuck behind the superb Hugo Lloris and the impressive Michel Vorm, the 22-year-old has been forced to spend the entire season with the club’s development squad. Though at least he can take some solace in knowing he’s left his mark on the Spurs’ academy coach, the club’s official website reports.
Lopez signed on loan from Espanyol in the summer after filling the gaping hole left by Kiko Casilla’s departure to Real Madrid in the summer of 2015 but has not being given a sniff of an opportunity, not even in the odd EFL Cup tie.
Tottenham’s Under-23 coach, former Middlesbrough defender Ugo Ehiogu, probably didn’t expect his development squad to be boosted by one of Spain’s brightest young goalkeepers but made his affections known after beating Reading 4-0.
“The scoreline does sound comfortable but it wasn’t that way, certainly not watching from the sideline!” Ehiogu told the club’s official website.
“Pau made clean, technical saves that he made look easier than they were and in the second half, he was probably our most competent player.”
Furthermore, despite being frozen out of first-team action, Spanish publication Sport claims that Mauricio Pochettino will sign Lopez permanently at the end of the season for £6 million.
And although it’s easy to question the Argentine’s methods, he could benefit from playing the long-game with the young shot-stopper. After all, we don’t need to remind you just how difficult it is for inexperienced goalkeepers to adapt to the harsh world of English football so giving Lopez regular run-outs in the reserves should ensure that, when the time is right, he will not be thrown in at the deep end.
Furthermore, with Vorm’s deal running out next summer, Lopez should then ascend up the pecking order.
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