Souness gives scathing verdict on Tottenham star who's 'past his sell-by date'

Graeme Souness believes Hugo Lloris is "past his sell-by date" after the Tottenham goalkeeper made a howler on New Year's Day.

Spurs suffered a surprise 2-0 home defeat to Unai Emery's Aston Villa to leave their top-four hopes hanging in the balance. Antonio Conte's side are fifth in the Premier League table - two points behind Manchester United in fourth having played a game more.

Lloris was at fault for Villa's first goal, as he parried Douglas Luiz's tame long-range effort straight to Ollie Watkins. The English forward then set up Emi Buendia to make it 1-0 before Luiz doubled Villa's advantage late on to take all three points back to Birmingham.

An inevitable inquest into Lloris' mistake followed. "I'm not a fan of Lloris," Souness told Sky Sports. "He is past his sell-by date. Since the start of last season, he has made four errors which have led to goals - that's the worst record of any goalkeeper."

Mirror Football have verified Souness' claim and Lloris has indeed made four errors leading to a goal since the start of last season, according to the Premier League's website. It's actually the joint-worst record, however, as he shares it with Norwich's Tim Krul.

Perhaps more telling is three of those four mistakes from Lloris have come during the 2022/23 campaign. That's an alarming statistic considering the Frenchman has played just 15 Premier League games this term. Conte may decide it's time for a change.

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Lloris, now 36, has been a regular for Tottenham since he arrived from Lyon in August 2012. He has been their captain since August 2015 and helped them them reach two EFL Cup finals and one Champions League final, as well as finish second in the Premier League.

Lloris has played 437 games for Tottenham and recently helped France reach a second successive World Cup final, which they lost on penalties to Argentina. The veteran has won 145 senior caps for his country and is yet to call time on his international career.

Conte showed his frustration at Lloris' mistake during a post-match interview with the BBC. He said: "I'm sure that if we don't concede the goal, we could win the game instead. The goal that we conceded killed us in confidence and in many situations for sure."

Conte also urged Tottenham to splash the cash, with a new goalkeeper potentially on the horizon. He told Sky Sports: "You need to have your squad, 13 or 14 players, strong. And then every year to get one or two players, important players, to improve the quality.

"You need to invest £60m or £70m or £80m, in this way you improve the quality... We need to find 13 or 14 players - we're trying to create this. Then to add important players in every season. Not normal players, they don't make a difference."

Tottenham could even bring in a new goalkeeper as early as this month due to their worrying position. Six-cap England international Fraser Forster, 34, and emerging talent Brandon Austin, 23, are the other two goalkeepers in Tottenham's first-team squad.