The wheels may have slightly come off of Tottenham’s blistering start to the season in recent weeks, but one player who continues to shine on every occasion is keeper, Guglielmo Vicario. The likes of James Maddison and Micky van de Ven may have grabbed the headlines, but in the Italian stopper, Spurs have found a real gem.
Bargain Buy Of The Season?
With the huge sums of money being bandied about on transfers in the current market, it has become quite a challenge for any team to unearth a top-tier player at a lower-tier price. Brighton, who, alongside Spurs, are popular in the football betting markets to qualify for Europe again this season, are one club that has managed to find some bargains in the past, but Spurs may have the bargain buy of the season on their hands in Vicario.
The Italian, who has recently been called up for international duty, has been in impeccable form, with only Liverpool’s Allison having a better save percentage at this stage of the season. For comparison, Man United splashed out £43.8 Million on Andre Onana, whilst Chelsea paid £25 Million to Brighton for Robert Sanchez.
Meanwhile, Vicario, who cost a mere £16.4 Million from Empoli, leads them both in save percentage and goals against. At just 27, the Spurs stopper is still coming into his prime, and if he were to continue to improve over the next few seasons, Daniel Levy, Ange Postecoglou, and the Tottenham faithful will have unearthed one of the rarest rough diamonds of all.
The Story Of Guglielmo Vicario
From Serie D to the Premier League – Guglielmo Vicario’s journey to the highest level of English and European football has been a long and winding one. It all began for the now 27-year-old in the fourth tier of Italian football with Venezia in 2015. Fast-forward four years and the young keeper had enjoyed two consecutive promotions with the club before moving on to pastures new with Cagliari.
It was with Cagliari that he would make his first start in Serie A, but having failed to nail down the number one spot, he was shipped out on loan to Empoli for whom he would flourish. He became a regular starter in Serie A, eventually making the move permanent.
Just twelve months later, Spurs would come knocking as they searched for Hugo Lloris’ replacement, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Can He Help Spurs Return To Winning Ways?
Having gone through the first ten games of the new campaign unbeaten, Ange Postecoglou’s impressive side have struggled in recent weeks. The 4-1 loss to Chelsea was a crazy game that excuses can be found for, but the 2-1 loss to Wolves was a shockingly poor result.
Both results could have been far worse had it not been for Vicario. He made a host of top-class saves in both games and would have to be considered Tottenham’s best player in both ties.
Spurs fans will be hoping for more of the same from their bargain buy in the coming games, and if Postecoglou can get his forwards firing on all cylinders again, the future looks bright at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
