One former Tottenham Hotspur player has revealed his conversation with Ange Postecoglou that brought an end to his Spurs career.
The North Londoners made a few changes after the Australian was appointed as their new manager in the summer of 2023.
Postecoglou has completely transformed the club since, and all of his decisions with regard to players have been proven right.
One player has now revealed how his talks with Tottenham boss Posecoglou went in August 2023.
Hugo Lloris says he was ‘pushed aside’ at Tottenham after talks with Ange Postecoglou
Hugo Lloris joined Tottenham in the summer of 2012 from French side Lyon.
The goalkeeper played 447 times for Spurs during his time there, and during his prime, he was among the best in the business. He produced a number of incredible moments for the club.
Lloris was Tottenham’s captain too for many, many years, and he was always well-respected by everyone inside Spurs.
However, at the end of the 2022/23 season, it became clear that a change was necessary. Lloris was expected to leave the club then.
The veteran has revealed that he realised his time was up at that point too, but what brought an end to his Tottenham career was a conversation with Postecoglou.
The new Spurs boss had his own ideas when came to the club, and one of his plans was to sign a new goalkeeper, someone younger and better on the ball than Lloris.
Tottenham brought in Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli, and the Italian quickly became the club’s number one. Fraser Forster was made his deputy,
Then, Lloris reveals that Postecoglou had a chat with him to make it clear that he will ‘no longer enter the field’. The Frenchman was told he’d only be a ‘training player’, which made him feel ‘pushed aside’.
Speaking to Le Parisien, Lloris said: “Tottenham were coming to the end of a cycle, and so was I. I knew that Tottenham wanted to recruit younger players, especially in my position.
“Summer was approaching and I was no longer part of the plans.
“When the championship resumed, in August 2023, the coach informed me that I would no longer enter the field, that I would only be a training player. I was pushed aside, I had become transparent.”
READ MORE: Hugo Lloris delivers honest verdict on Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham
How Lloris behaved after being dropped
It’s never easy to be told that you’re not wanted, especially when you’ve been such an important figure at the club for over a decade.
That must have been extremely hard for Lloris, who could’ve easily thrown a tantrum at that point.
However, the World Cup winner is a model professional, and despite being told that he’ll never play for the club again, he did everything he could to help the other goalkeepers at the club.
Just before Lloris left Tottenham in January 2024, Postecoglou praised his professionalism and claimed he didn’t have one bad word to say about him. The two of them shared a good relationship until the end.
The Spurs boss said, as per beIN Sports: “I have only been here a couple of months but Hugo has been excellent throughout the whole process.
“There is no doubt he has had an outstanding career and contribution to this football club. He has been the captain for quite a long time and been very professional, obviously working with (Rob) Burchy and the other goalkeepers.
“He has been helping the others, Vic (Vicario) being the new goalkeeper, so I have nothing negative to say about him and I wouldn’t.
“There has been nothing other than him being very, very professional about everything.”