Mauricio Pochettino said Hugo Lloris’s commitment to Tottenham Hotspur sets an important example to his team-mates and none of the players should need convincing that White Hart Lane is the place to further their ambitions.
Lloris was strongly linked with Manchester United during the summer, but there was no firm bid for the goalkeeper and David de Gea’s failed move to Real Madrid means Louis van Gaal has no vacancy to fill. The France captain said this week “there could have been a development but there was none” but also spoke of his contentment with life at Tottenham. His manager says this underlines the status of a club who have not qualified for the Champions League since Lloris’s arrival in 2012.
“I think the way he showed his commitment here is important for the team and I am happy with him,” said Pochettino. “Hugo is a very important player for us – he is our captain and he is a personality.
“I don’t think I need to convince anybody [to stay here] because Tottenham is a big club, the players want to play here and they are all happy. I don’t know why you still say that Hugo wants to play [in the] Champions League because he is very happy, as I’ve told you before.”
Lloris could be among those rested for Thursday’s Europa League group stage match against the Azerbaijani side Qarabag, with Pochettino promising to field some of the players who have not featured heavily in the Premier League this season. The competition did not rank among his priorities in 2014-15 even though its winners now receive a Champions League place and he said last season’s beneficiaries – Sevilla – can prepare more comfortably for their European endeavours than their English counterparts.
“When you see Sevilla play against I-don’t-know-who in Spain, maybe they can rest and recover the week before playing in the Champions League,” he said. “But Manchester City had a very tough game against Crystal Palace [at the weekend] and for Manchester United the same.
“In different leagues, like Spain and Italy, the gap between the teams at the top and the rest is bigger. In England you can lose to anyone. That is one of the reasons why it’s difficult for English teams to play in Europe.”
Ryan Mason, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembélé will miss the European match through injury but Erik Lamela may start against a relatively unheralded team who have impressed Pochettino.
“Qarabag have very good players and they try to play in a style that surprised me,” he said. “They try to play along the grass and build from the back, with a good philosophy. They have surprised me – they’re a very good team.”
