Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to give new contracts to Hugo Lloris and Michael Vorm could be taken as a sign that the club wouldn’t be planning to use their buying option over 22 year old Paul Lopez at the end of the season. The Spanish goalkeeper, who joined Spurs on a loan last summer, is still to make his official debut in England.
However, according to AS, Tottenham would still plan to keep the player permanently. La Liga side Espanyol are currently struggling as their first two goalkeepers Diego Lopez and Roberto Jimenez are injured, so having their former number one back wouldn’t be a bad idea.
But the website claims that Mauricio Pochettino is satisfied with the goalkeeper, and the other extensions don’t mean they’re not planning on paying the €7m clause to sign Lopez at the end of the season. AS says that in this case, he’d remain as the club’s third choice goalkeeper.
By signing Lopez on loan, Tottenham accepted to pay €600k for the deal, with a buying clause of €7m, and a €500k penalty in case they decided not to sign him permanently.
The move has always seemed curious, Pau had become frustrated at Espanyol after they decided to bring a more senior goalkeeper in. Having played around 40 times for Espanyol’s senior team, he didn’t want to drop down, so accepting to be third choice at Tottenham was strange.
Called up once to Spain’s full squad last year, Pau Lopez is yet to make an appearance for Tottenham.
