TEAMtalk have recently brought you reports that Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank is not completely happy with the goalkeeping situation at the club, but we have looked at why moving on from current No.1 Guglielmo Vicario could end up being a major mistake.
Vicario has been the current incumbent between the sticks in north London since his move from Empoli in the summer of 2023, when he replaced the long-serving Hugo Lloris.
While there have been some trials and tribulations along the way, as they are are with many goalkeepers who swap countries, Vicario has largely down a solid job for Tottenham since joining.
However, there have been murmurings from some sections of the Spurs faithful that Frank needs to upgrade the position, with Vicario having made a couple of errors already in the early stages of the new season.
And TEAMtalk can confirm that there is evidence to suggest that Tottenham transfer chiefs Johan Lange and Fabio Paratici are looking into potential alternatives ahead of the new year.
Indeed, we can reveal that Frank is not wholly convinced by Vicario, who is an incredible shot-stopper but struggles with his feet at times, while Antonin Kinsky hasn’t done enough behind the scenes to jettison the Italian out of the starting eleven.
TEAMtalk transfer insider Dean Jones recently gave us an update on the goalkeeping situation at the club, saying: “It will be interesting to discover what the goalkeeper shortlist looks like once it is drawn up and just how under threat Vicario truly is.
“I would love to reveal some names but at this stage it is just a little too early.
“I get the impression they would be willing to wait until the summer to find the right candidate but it is possible someone could come during January.
“I think names will emerge soon, probably by the end of this month. And that will help us understand whether they are looking at genuine competition for the No.1 spot and whether Vicario is in danger.”
Despite calls for change, TEAMtalk have looked behind the stats of Vicario’s season so far and also the intangibles that still make him a great i the No.1 position.
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Why it’s too early for Tottenham to move on from Vicario
The Italy international has conceded just five goals in the opening seven Premier League outings so far, although it could be argued that his mistakes led to at least two of those opposition strikes.
However, when you dig a little deeper into how he has fared so far this season, it ends up becoming much more than just a test of the eyes.
The 29-year-old currently ranks third in terms of clean sheets this season, with only Nick Pope (5) and David Raya (4) recording more than Vicario’s three.
The Italian is also high up the list for save percentage, behind only Raya, who has 83.3%, while Vicario sits second with 82.8%.
Vicario is actually top for goals prevented, as he quite often makes big saves from sure goalscoring chances, with the Italian preventing 2.9 goals through his incredible shot-stopping abilities.
When you also factor in that Vicario is in Frank’s senior leadership team at the club, alongside the likes of Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, and his importance should not be underplayed.
In what is a fairly quiet Tottenham team on the pitch, Vicario is also the voice that is normally the loudest – constantly badgering his players to make sure they are in the right positions and once again highlighting his value to Frank’s set-up.
Yes, it’s a very fair comment that he does not always look comfortable with the ball at his feet, but Frank is not asking him to try and play out from the back anything like as much as Ange Postecoglou did.
Indeed, the Dane is trying to play more into Vicario’s strengths, as he is with all his players early into his reign, and there is an expectation that Vicario will improve as Tottenham improve under Frank going forward.
With that in mind, the club need to look to spend their new cash injection from majority owners Enic on other areas of the pitch that are much more in need of potential upgrades – namely the left wing and in central midfield.
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