Guglielmo Vicario has proven to be quite the enigma for Tottenham Hotspur supporters to figure out. Equally likely to give away the game as he is to win it with a spellbinding save, Vicario has been a good goalkeeper for Spurs since joining a couple of years ago from Empoli, but whispers about his overall ceiling began at the end of the 2024/25 Premier League season after a series of game-costing howlers.
To start the 2025/26 campaign, Vicario has been just as much of a mixed bag, and Spurs fans have been looking earnestly over to young backup Antonin Kinsky, who is one of the most talented young goalkeepers in the entire world, as a possible alternative should Vicario botch what is now a short leash.
Spurs fans were thus ready with their pitchforks out after another terrible mistake gifted Leeds United an equalizer on Saturday afternoon. Vicario clumsily handled a shot that was fairly close to him, making the cardinal sin of weakly parrying the ball directly into the path of a very, very grateful Noah Okafor.
Guglielmo Vicario spared his blushes
Yet just when Tottenhams fans hopped onto the Twitter machine to let their takes about Kinsky and Vicario fly, the Italian shot-stopper stepped up with two amazing saves. And if we are going to point to the Okafaro goal as a costly howler from Vicario, then, in the same way, we must praise his reflex save with his feet and his late parry to safety as game-saving actions.
Thus, the duality of Vicario and the enigma continues, perhaps more complicated than before. Leeds played well on Saturday, but they are Leeds. In bigger games against bigger opponents, Vicario is going to be tested more, and if you just know that he is going to make a howler or two, then how can you fully trust him in the most important matches? There will always be that seed of doubt with Vicario, even though he is just as capable of saving an entire game for you or having a Player of the Week performance (look no further than the debacle against Bournemouth that Vicario made respectable).
Kinsky is such a talented young goalkeeper, and while VIcario saved himself from any real controversy heading into the break with two big saves, it's not like he fully erased the concerns. People will remember that first error, and the Kinsky supporters will hold onto that one. Though, if Vicario is facing this kind of pressure to form, you can only imagine what Kinsky will feel when he inevitably makes his first series of mistakes. Controversy continues.