Hugo Lloris has brought his time at Tottenham to an end after he completed a free transfer to Los Angeles FC. Lloris signed for Spurs in 2012 and went on to make 447 appearances for the Premier League club, but had not played since April after he made clear his desire to take on a new challenge at the end of last season.
Ange Postecoglou gave the green light for Lloris to leave this summer and, while no transfer materialised, Tottenham entered talks with the Major League Soccer side earlier this week and their veteran goalkeeper has now departed.
Lloris issued a “personal message to all the Spurs fans” in a club interview: “I just wanted to say thank you for all your support since day one. It has been a great privilege to be one of yours and one of your captains for many years and it’s the end of the chapter, but you will be always in my hearts. Spurs will always be a special place for me and all my family.
“On behalf of them I would like to say thank you for all memories that we had together, all the emotions we went through and I just want to wish you the best for the next decade because you deserve the best.”
Lloris will go on to the pitch at half-time of Tottenham’s home clash with Bournemouth on Sunday to say farewell to the supporters.
It represents the latest changing of guard at the north London club after record goalscorer Harry Kane left in August. Spurs signed Lloris from Lyon in 2012 and he went on to become a stalwart, taking the captaincy under Mauricio Pochettino and leading the team to two League Cup finals and most notably the Champions League final in 2019 in addition to several top-four finishes.
Lloris, 37, last played for Tottenham during the 6-1 loss at Newcastle in April, where he was replaced at half-time with a thigh injury.
After World Cup-winner Lloris stated his desire to move on in the summer, Lazio and Nice were among the clubs to register an interest, but no transfer occurred and he was replaced as captain by Son Heung-min before the new campaign.
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Postecoglou regularly talked up Lloris’s professionalism but quickly made summer recruit Guglielmo Vicario his first-choice goalkeeper and selected Fraser Forster as back-up, while academy graduate Brandon Austin has been named on the bench this term.
Lloris, who guided France to the World Cup final in Qatar last December before he retired from international football following the tournament, leaves Spurs in eighth place of their all-time appearance list.