Guglielmo Vicario might not be the name Tottenham fans expected to replace Hugo Lloris but he has had quite the career.
Spurs are moving ahead with their plans to sign a goalkeeper and Empoli star Vicario might be the answer ahead of Brentford shot-stopper David Raya.
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Tottenham and Empoli have verbally agreed to a £17.2million deal that is set to be made formal.
He might not be a household name but Vicario has already made quite the impact in Serie A, where he even foiled a robbery in his early days.
The 26-year-old came up through the academy at Udinese at a time when Alex Meret and Simone Scuffet were also fighting in the youth ranks.
And in September 2014, a 17-year-old Vicario was the witness to a robbery – but he did not just stand there and watch, he took after the criminal.
He said at the time: “Together with three other companions of mine, we always take the train to go to Fontanafredda.
“Sometimes we play games, but basically that station with only two platforms is our home. Me, Nicola, Alessandro and Luca.
“We train at 18 and we take the regional at 20:30. Tonight we heard screams coming from the other platform, and shortly after a gentleman re-emerged from the rails panting.
“We ran towards him and he yelled: ‘They robbed me! A man snatched my purse.’
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“We spotted a man who was running away, we started chasing him and almost caught up with him.
“At that point, the thief threw the purse and kept running. We collected it and brought it back to the man.
“After a while, the Carabinieri arrived and also stopped our train to allow us to complete the report.”
His time in Udinese would come to an end in 2015 when he joined Venezia and played there for four years before signing for Cagliari.
However, he would have to wait another year before being given his debut in the 2020/21 season – but it would be a day Vicario would never forget.
Standing at the opposite end of the pitch was Samir Handanovic as Cagliari faced Inter Milan in Serie A – Vicario’s goalkeeping idol.
Speaking about his time at Cagliari, the goalkeeper said: “After Venice it was time to make the leap.
“First I went on loan to Perugia, now here I am, in Serie A. I’m Alessio Cragno’s reserve but I’m having my space.
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“A challenge, to readjust and stabilize myself again. Who can forget the debut in Milan against Inter… against my idol and role model Samir Handanovic.”
Ultimately, his time at Cagliari was cut short after two loan spells.
The last of those was with Empoli and he joined them on a permanent deal last summer.
The Italian made 31 appearances in Serie A, keeping seven clean sheets, but his best moment undoubtedly came against AS Roma earlier in the season.
In February, Empoli took on Jose Mourinho’s side, who put his big guns out to secure victory.
However, he did not anticipate an inspired triple-save from Vicario, who pulled off a blinder against Paulo Dybala, Gianluca Mancini and Tammy Abraham.
Dybala’s initial effort came from a half-volley from just inside the box that was palmed away, unfortunately straight to Mancini.
But Vicario remained alert, flying down to his right-hand side to beat away the defender’s volley with jaw-dropping reflexes.
And there was more to come as Abraham scampered in to get the rebound as the goalkeeper was floored.
However, in an extraordinary piece of goalkeeping ingenuity, Vicario deflected the ex-Chelsea star’s header away with his foot in the air.
That should surely give Tottenham fans reason to feel excited as they look to bring in a new goalkeeper.
Current captain Lloris has already informed the club he wants to leave this summer and a new No. 1 was eyed in the form of Raya at Brentford.
But their £40m valuation has put Spurs off, especially considering that he has one year left on his contract.
And it appears they are ready to wait until next summer to get their man on a free transfer, though if Vicario arrives and proves a sensation, the north London club might have pulled off one of the surprise deals of the year.
