London (AFP)

If the future of Harry Kane at Tottenham has obsessed the press this summer, that of Hugo Lloris will also have to be decided soon, after almost 10 years with Spurs who face Rennes, Thursday for the first day of the Europa League Conference (6:45 p.m.) .

At 34, the goalkeeper of the France team still displays a very enviable level of performance and nothing suggests an imminent decline.

"His consistency has been remarkable. I hope he will keep his good health and if so, Tottenham will not have to look for another goalkeeper for maybe 4, 5 or 6 years", had estimated recently in The Athletic the American porter Brad Friedel, who had preceded him in the London cages.

But a few months before the end of his contract in June 2022, discussions for an extension are slow to start and the arrival on loan with option to buy, this summer, of the Italian Pierluigi Golini from Atalanta Bergamo. shows Tottenham are preparing for any eventuality.

The club's oldest player after Kane, Lloris recently became the most capped player in the Premier League for Tottenham with 302 appearances on the clock.

- "So undercut ..." -

And in 10 years in the north of the English capital, he has known almost everything.

Everything except winning trophies, even if he made up for it in selection, unlike Kane.

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris during the Premier League meeting against Crystal Palace in London on September 11, 2021 JUSTIN TALLIS AFP / Archives

Lloris arrived when the team was led by André Villas-Boas, who refused him the starting position for a long time, despite the 14 million euros paid to Lyon in 2012.

Tottenham was then an ambitious team but struggling to compete with the big guys for the title or even for places in the Champions League.

But everything changes with the arrival in 2014 of Mauricio Pochettino who gives the armband to Lloris - ahead of Kane!

- from 2015.

With their goalkeeper-captain, Spurs enjoyed three exceptional seasons between 2015 and 2018, finishing on the podium with twice the best defense in the Premier League, and playing a Champions League final the following year, lost against Liverpool (2- 0), in 2019.

It is also the period when Lloris becomes world champion with France, making him one of the very best in his post.

Lloris "is so underrated, it's scary," ex-Spurs Darren Anderton said just before he broke his Premier League record.

- A new impetus?

-

“There were times under + Poch + where he was amazing. It was the time when Kane and Dele (Alli) and all the other stars were blowing up and it almost went unnoticed that he was making some great saves and that he was so often the man of the match ".

Its "balls", not so frequent, but sometimes in very exposed matches, have always weighed down its reputation a little across the Channel.

His serious injury in October 2019, a dislocated left elbow, as well as Tottenham's decline that led to the Argentina coach's departure and continued under José Mourinho, gave a feeling he may have passed. his heyday, even though he remained one of the few successful and consistent players on the team.

Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris at the end of the Leicester City v Tottenham match in Leicester on May 23, 2021 Shaun Botterill POOL / AFP / Archives

The Londoners' good start to the season, with 3 wins without conceding a goal, before the defeat (3-0) at Crystal Palace, under the orders of new coach Nuno Espirito Santo, could give new impetus to the relationship between the goalkeeper and the club to which he remained faithful despite the requests.

But the Portuguese technician refused to comment at the start of the season on a possible extension.

The specificities of the goalkeeper market mean that Lloris will not necessarily be able to wait long before making his decision, but a good performance would give him more leeway in deciding his future.

© 2021 AFP