Guglielmo Vicario has admitted that he will always be grateful to Hugo Lloris for how he welcomed him into the club and for the advice he passed on during their six months together.
Lloris was widely expected to leave Tottenham last summer but he ended up staying put at Hotspur Way after being unable to find the right sort of project.
That meant that the former Spurs captain had to stick around as the third-choice goalkeeper for the first half of the season – a situation that could have potentially been a little awkward around the training pitch.
However, Vicario revealed that he got along very well with the 37-year-old, explaining that the former Spurs number one helped him settle into the club.
The Italian told ESPN about working with Lloris: “We trained every day and he was one of my teammates so any advice, anything I could to try and take from him, I tried to do. He was very kind with me, trying to speak with me and help settle me as fast as I can. He did it and I’m very grateful to him.”
Vicario is ready to step up after Hugo Lloris exit
Lloris eventually swapped Spurs for Los Angeles FC back in January and Vicario certainly has big gloves to fill, with the Frenchman being one of Tottenham’s biggest modern-day legends.
When asked about the pressure associated with replacing a club legend, the 27-year-old responded: “Pressure is a word you find everywhere in football. It is not about overthinking who was before you. I have a huge respect for what Hugo did and what he did with me also when we trained in these last few months. He was a massive keeper, a massive human being in the way he behaved with me.
“So big respect for what he achieved in his career, he is a World Cup winner, a captain. So I think pressure is everywhere in football so you don’t have to overthink and just concentrate on what you have to do day by day.”
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We know that Hugo is a gentleman personified and a model professional and even though he might have found it hard to not get any game time, he would have certainly done all he could to help Vicario and the team.
In Vicario, Spurs have not only found an an exceptional goalkeeper to replace Lloris but also someone who can fill the leadership void left by the Frenchman’s departure.