The goalkeeper is on loan at Tottenham Hotspur from Barcelona outfit Espanyol.
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Pau Lopez has been talking to the club website about how close he came to dropping out of football and going with a different sport entirely as a youngster.
Tottenham’s Pau Lopez and Son Heung-min during training
The Spanish Under-21 player is on a season long loan from Espanyol, where he was a key player last season, but he could have been playing a very different ball game if he wouldn’t have been talked into returning to football.
“I was a goalkeeper but at that moment, I wasn’t enjoying it,” the 21-year-old told the Spurs website about his youth.
“My friends all played basketball so I decided to play with them. I was 10 at the time. When you are young, you only want to be happy and stay with your friends and this is what they were doing.”
Atletico Madrid’s Lucas Hernandez fights for the ball against Espanyol’s goalkeeper Pau Lopez
With Barcelona and Real Madrid both boasting popular basketball teams, it was only the words of Lopez’s father who talked him back into football, where he would still be at his best with the ball in his hands.
“My father (Ignasi) said to me one day ‘why don’t you go to Girona and try to play football again’,” Lopez said.
“I guess it was lucky for me. I did that and now, here I am. In the end, I only played basketball for a year or less but when you are young you only want to enjoy your sport.
“My dad is the person who always stayed with me, spoke to me, said ‘you have to try to be a goalkeeper, you can do it.’”
Lopez hasn’t had the chance to demonstrate his qualities at White Hart Lane, having completed his loan move from Espanyol on deadline day under six weeks ago, and he is still to make his debut for the Lilywhites.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris, Luke McGee and Brad Friedel listen to goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez during training
Tottenham have two international goalkeepers in front of him in Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm, but it is likely Mauricio Pochettino and Toni Jimenez, who both worked with Lopez as a teenager in Barcelona, will be judging whether he has what it takes to become a long term option between the sticks.
Having made 38 La Liga appearances, he should certainly benefit from working alongside the staff and players Spurs have at hand.
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