Hugo Lloris – Tottenham Hotspur Goalkeeper

Hugo Lloris – Player Profile

Hugo Lloris is a French goalkeeper who stands at 6ft 2in (1.88m) who currently plays for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The World Cup winner has been a loyal servant to the Lilywhites since joining the club from French Club Olympique Lyonnais in August 2012.

His beginnings in football began at the age of six (1992) at the Centre de Diffusion et d’Action Culturelle (CEDAC) which was a local cultural centre in Nice. It was at this centre that a coach noticed his qualities as a goalkeeper and this laid the foundations for the rest of his career in football.

The Frenchman joined Nice in 1996 where he went on to excel in the club’s academy. After playing 12 games for the club’s reserve team, he was promoted to the senior squad just before the start of the 2005/06 season. Lloris made his professional debut for Le Gym on 25^th October 2005, keeping his very first clean sheet in a 2-0 Coupe de la League (French League Cup) victory against Chateauroux.

He went on to record another clean sheet in the next round of the cup against Sedan and also helped Nice defeat Bordeaux, who were the favourites to win that particular match. The two clubs are fierce rivals, competing in ‘Derby de la Cote d’Azur’.

Nice and Hugo Lloris made it all the way to the Coupe de la Ligue Final, but were defeated 2-1 by Nancy.

Hugo Lloris then went on to make his Ligue 1 (French Top Flight) debut against Nancy on 18^th March 2006 in a 1-0 win, keeping a clean sheet. The goalkeeper went on to make 78 appearances for Nice in which time he kept a total of 30 clean sheets.

This form led to a transfer to French giants Olympique Lyonnais for €8.5m (£7.5m) on 1^st July 2008. Lloris had a great debut campaign making 46 appearances in all competitions, keeping 20 clean sheets. Lyon finished 3^rd, qualifying for European Football.

Overall, Lloris made 202 appearances in all competitions, keeping 67 clean sheets over the course of his 4 years at the club.

Tottenham Hotspur, then managed by Andre Villas-Boas, signed the French Goalkeeper for €12.6m (£11.1m) on 31^st August 2012. His debut for the Lilywhites was in a 0-0 Europa League draw against Italian side Lazio on 20^th September 2012, before making his Premier League debut in a 2-0 victory against Aston Villa.

He kept 9 clean sheets in 27 games in 2012/13 with Spurs finishing in 5^th place.

Lloris kept 13 clean sheets in 37 Premier League matches in 2016/17, which saw Spurs challenge Leicester City for the Premier League title, only to fall short in 3^rd place.

The French goalkeeper lived the dream of many a footballer in 2018, when he captained France to winning the 2018 World Cup in Russia, beating Croatia 4-2 in the Final.

To date, Hugo Lloris has made 443 appearances in all competitions for the Lilywhites, with a fantastic total of 151 clean sheets to his name.