Guglielmo Vicario isn’t a ready-made replacement for Hugo Lloris but is an excellent goalkeeper

Guglielmo Vicario has been for a long time the most underrated Italian goalkeeper. His greatest quality is that he is very reactive and able to handle the pressures of Serie A football while playing in a small team like Empoli. 

Inter Milan have wasted too much time on making a final decision on the future of Andre Onana and that has meant they are unable to make an official offer to Empoli for Vicario.

The chosen strategy of club president Giuseppe Marotta has severely restricted Inter’s ability to make a move and paved the way for Tottenham to overtake them in the race for the Empoli goalkeeper.

At 28-years-old, the time has come for Vicario to try a new experience and start thinking about a move away from Italy having spent the entirety of his career in the country.

Vicario has significantly improved at Empoli physically and athletically to become a confident ball-playing goalkeeper. He is occasionally prone to mistakes but is extremely effective in his position. 

Guglielmo Vicario looks set for a move to Tottenham in this summer transfer window

The Italian goalkeeper (right) was a target for Inter Milan but Spurs have taken pole position

With 31 appearances in Serie A last season, Vicario is a positive reflection of Italian football and it is only the presence of Gianluigi Donnarumma that has stopped him gaining a starting role in the Italian national team.

Spurs have always held great interest in Serie A players and Vicario could be the right man to open a new ‘Italian cycle’ of goalkeepers moving to the Premier League.

Vicario will never be like Lloris but can become a great signing

Vicario does not have the experience of Lloris and unlike the French goalkeeper, he has never shown that he can handle international pressure within a top club. 

He has never won a trophy and has never featured in Champions League so it is difficult to predict what his impact might be on the pitch, however his immense quality shown over the last 24 months can’t be ignored.

Playing abroad is not a problem for Vicario and the decision to leave Italy demonstrates his desire to be a protagonist. 

He is an acrobatic goalkeeper with cat-like reflexes: his extraordinary season with Empoli transformed him into a top player specialising in penalty saves and recording a higher ranking than Juventus’ Wojciech Szczesny last season.

Vicario is one of the most important goalkeepers in Serie A but this quality does not allow him to be considered as a ready-made replacement for Lloris who is one of the icons of Spurs and the French national team.

Hugo Lloris (middle) boasts international experience that Vicario is yet to obtain

But Vicario would be a great replacement for Tottenham as they search for a new number one

This won’t be another case similar to former Spurs goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini because they are two completely different goalkeepers. 

Lloris is a wizard in the correct placement, Vicario is an acrobatic cat who has nine lives. The Italian lives football 24/7 and has always dreamed of becoming best player at a top club even when he has experienced unhappy moments.

Compared to Gollini, he seems to have more desire to be the number one and would not settle in becoming a club’s second-choice goalkeeper. But, Lloris is not immortal and Tottenham’s choice to find a new goalkeeper seems to be definitive.

£21.5million is an excellent deal for Vicario 

Tottenham have started negotiations with Empoli for Vicario after taking advantage of the slow negotiations with Inter Milan, who first have to decide the future of Onana. 

Around £21.5million will be needed to secure a deal and Tottenham will be able to offer an improved annual salary on his current Empoli deal.

Vicario (left) would cost Tottenham in the region of £21.5million as Empoli look to cash-in on their goalkeeper

AC Milan, Inter, Juventus and Roma have chosen to rely on foreign goalkeepers and Vicario has suffered from this marginalisation despite having been among the top three goalkeepers in Serie A by performance in the last two years.

Opta statistics highlight his importance to Empoli with Vicario making the highest average number of saves in Serie A over the last 12 months.

Vicario hoping to break bad luck for Italian goalkeepers in the Premier League

Massimo Taibi, Matteo Sereni and Gollini are three Italian goalkeepers who despite enjoying excellent careers in Italy have never managed to play a leading role in the Premier League.

Vicario is hoping to reverse this negative trend by building on the qualities that he demonstrated at Empoli last season.

Vicario can definitively change the unfortunate trend that has followed Italian goalkeepers to the Premier League and his role as a pioneer stimulates him to accept the Spurs offer and ignore the possibility of becoming Inter’s next goalkeeper.

Opta statistics show Vicario made the highest average number of saves in Serie A over the last year