goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has explained his decision to reject an eleventh-hour move to boyhood club Nice, with the veteran shot-stopper now in limbo over his future.
The 36-year-old has been free to leave Spurs all summer and was given permission not to travel to Australia for the club’s tour so he could ‘explore prospective transfer opportunities’.
He has been linked with a host of different clubs, including Saudi Pro League sides, and was and late in the window.
But those teams only wanted Lloris as a backup option, whereas the winner still believes he is good enough to be first choice, so he rejected the moves.
Late on Friday night, a return to Nice – the club where he started his career – emerged as an option after the Ligue 1 side decided to terminate the contract of Kasper Schmeichel.
But Lloris says the potential transfer materialised too late in the day to give it careful consideration, while he also felt Marcin Bulka – who has already displaced Schmeichel – would be given the number one role.
Speaking to local newspaper , the Frenchman said: ‘I want to clear up the ambiguity surrounding the events of the past hours.
‘Yesterday [Friday], an hour before the end of the window, I received a call from an agent, who brought up the possibility of joining OGC Nice.
‘Playing prospects and the sporting project, the real drivers behind a player’s decision, much more so than financial conditions, weren’t clearly broached.
‘My professional journey has shown how much that exchange, of sharing and collective growth, have always forged my decisions, even more so when it’s about coming back to the club that trained me.
‘The supporters and the team deserve better than a split-second decision based on a phone call without expectations or a clear sporting project with one hour until the closure of the window at a time where I wasn’t expecting it.
‘To be honest, I couldn’t sign without this common shared vision, at least with the president and the coach.
‘OGC Nice is, and will remain, a special club for me. It is my city, my club, my blood.
‘A goalkeeper [Bulka] is in place today. He is without a doubt one of the best at the start of the season. He has a promising career ahead of him.
‘Joining a club to play, to build, to perform, yes; signing without a sporting vision and a direct positive impact on the team, no.’
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