Pau Lopez’s situation at Tottenham Hotspur may be a bit strange, he left Espanyol after losing his number one spot to a more experienced goalkeeper, but hasn’t had a minute at Spurs.
According to Sport, this was the manager’s plan since the beginning. He believes that Lopez is a signing for the future, so there’s no worry about giving the player game time now.
Pochettino has Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm, so there wasn’t a great need for Lopez. Breaking through at Espanyol, Lopez clearly loved getting games and therefore it’s strange to see him content with a distant back-up role.
The newspaper claims that Pochettino hasn’t lost any confidence in the 21-year-old, and despite having him as a third option now, he has no doubts about his future at the club.
Many Spanish clubs have reportedly been interested in having the goalkeeper on loan until the end of the season, but Tottenham turned down all the offers.
Lopez is on loan at Spurs after the English club paid Espanyol €600k for the spell. There’s a €7m buying option now, and in case they don’t keep him, a €500k penalty clause.
In other words, Tottenham either spend a total of €7.6m to keep him or a total of €1.1m to have him on loan and send him back. But the first option would be Pochettino’s choice for now.
