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Should Luke McGee Be Tottenham Hotspur’s New Backup Goalkeeper?

By Alexander Balano

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Luke McGee has been training with Tottenham’s first team this season which is great news to hear.

Tottenham’s goalkeeping situation is set for the next five seasons ever since Hugo Lloris signed a contract extension on July 10, 2014. Lloris did this knowing full well where the club was heading prior to Tottenham’s first season under manager Mauricio Pochettino. Fast forward to today after a fifth place finish last term and the French goalkeeper is still one of the world’s best shot stoppers.

Still though, even with Hugo Lloris the Club’s number one keeper, Tottenham needs an adequate backup to step up when Lloris is either resting or injured. This is where Spurs could go in two different directions. Does Mauricio Pochettino prefer to go with a veteran backup goalkeeper in Michel Vorm — or whoever else they decide to sign — or go with a much younger, inexperienced keeper in Luke McGee? Who by the way, has plenty of talent by looking at Spur’s match against AC Milan in the pre-season.

This question is being asked because of the kind of team that Tottenham are slowly becoming, under Mauricio Pochettino and Paul Mitchell’s ideal. It’s a Premier League club with an emphasis on youth. Up and down this squad, there are plenty of players who are under the age of 25, and only a select few who are over 25-years-old. Clearly it’s only a matter of time before Luke McGee is promoted to the first team.

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If there is promise for Cameron Carter-Vickers as a future starter with Tottenham at center-back. Then surely the same should be said about Luke McGee. Out of all of the youth academy graduates currently on the 24-man squad, Luke McGee is the only who is not a part of the first team setup. However, McGee has a much easier path to being the Club’s backup goalkeeper, than others being backups at their respective positions.

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Cameron Carter-Vickers and Miloš Veljković have a decent shot to make it into the first team next season. But, they’ll only be the fourth and fifth-best center-backs on the team behind starters Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen and behind third choice center-back Kevin Wimmer.

Tom Carroll and Harry Winks, have to compete with Mousa Dembélé, Ryan Mason and Dele Alli. Alex Pritchard and Josh Onomah have to compete with Christian Eriksen and Heung-Min Son. There is competition everywhere on this squad which is good.

However potentially trying out a 20-year-old youth academy graduate in Luke McGee at big competitions such as the Europa League and FA Cup, will be a good indication if he can in fact, be the team’s successor at goalkeeper. Hugo Lloris as mentioned at the top of the article, will remain the starter for at least four more seasons (now) following his contract extension last year. But Michel Vorm as a backup should perhaps go to Luke McGee instead. As Hotspur HQ discussed a while back when looking at who could be gone in January. One name was Michel Vorm. It was seen as a move that could save the team some extra money on their wage bill and lets McGee earn a shot at facing top clubs both domestically and in Europe

This situation, while it may not work out like FC Barcelona’s 2014-15 treble winning season, in which the Catalan giants used two goalkeepers to win three championships in a single season. Tottenham could try to emulate it slightly — until it fails horribly. The idea would be starting McGee in the Europa League this year (if they’re still in it) and the FA Cup (once it begins). While Lloris can just focus on playing Premier League games only. It’s a thought, but in a few seasons Luke McGee could be just as good as Michel Vorm as Tottenham’s backup goalkeeper behind Hugo Lloris.

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