Pau Lopez to Tottenham Hotspur was a frustrating saga. All along it felt like Tottenham and Espanyol would come to an agreement over a lower buying option, but it didn’t turn out that way.
Tottenham paid for Pau’s loan and then had an option to buy the young goalkeeper for €7m. That clause always seemed a little high, especially with Pau’s contract expiring in June 2018, and it seems Spurs were never really willing to pay it.
A happy medium wasn’t found, and it was claimed in Spain that Tottenham had even offered less than €2m for the player.
Paulo Gazzaniga then arrived at Tottenham from Southampton, and Pau’s potential move to Spurs was dead. It’s a shame for the player and Mauricio Pochettino, who had used his good Espanyol relationship to help with the initial deal.
Wednesday’s edition of Sport says Pau, who has started the season as Espanyol’s first choice and done well, is set to lose his place to Diego Lopez. The latter has returned from injury, and completed a permanent deal to join Espanyol in the summer.
Given Pau hasn’t signed a renewal and doesn’t look too keen to right now, Espanyol don’t see him as a long term option.
Could this all be a drawn out process before Tottenham see Michel Vorm end his contract and then sign Pau on a free transfer to be their second choice? That could be the next saga.
Pau attracted ‘interesting’ English offers during the summer, say Sport, after Tottenham gave up their option, so, one way or another, he could be returning to these shores soon.
