With Tottenham Hotspur locked in a tense Premier League relegation fight with West Ham United, any advantage makes the difference as the margin for error is so slim. And lately, young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has been the hero for Spurs, producing a monsterclass on Monday night to salvage a point against Leeds United with seemingly everything else working against Spurs.
Kinsky has been a massive upgrade over Guglielmo Vicario these past few weeks, but the surprise is that Kinsky was only named the starter because of Vicario's hernia surgery. Throughout the 2025/26 season, Vic has been a huge disappointmnet for Tottenham, costing the team many points with unforced errors and poor mistakes on the ball. Kinsky, on the other hand, has been tremendous on the ball and has avoided mistakes, far from his struggles against Atletico Madrid on one doomed night on the road.
The wild thing is Tottenham Hotspur were actually considering loaning Antonin Kinsky in the winter transfer window, and, well, it's a good thing Johan Lange didn't commit yet another blunder in charge of Spurs operations by making that move. Because, worst of all, he was about to give Spurs current relegation rivals West Ham United a new goalkeeper.
Antonin Kinsky almost went to West Ham
Tottenham were reportedly interested in swapping goalkeepers with West Ham, sending them the promising Kinsky in exchange for the Hammers 25 year old backup goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who is less promising than the Spurs No. 2.
Now, Kinsky might be the No. 1 for Tottenham even going into next season; that's how well he has been playing in the relegation fight. So you can only imagine the alternate timeline where Tottenham and West Ham swapped backup goalkeepers and Kinsky ended up starting for the Hammers, giving them crucial points against the likes of Arsenal to even the odds against Spurs. And imagine Hermansen in goal - or worse yet Guglielmo Vicario still making the same mistakes.
No disrespect to Mads Hermansen, but with save percentages well under 70 these last two seasons, he would be even worse than Vicario, let alone Kinsky. Tottenham avoided disaster here, and while it is hard to say exactly how close Johan Lange was to making this move, the fact that it was even being tossed around was enough to give Spurs fans a fright at the time. And now with Kinsky playing as well as he is, it's a reminder of how things can change - nor not change - in football and how slim the margin for error is in relegation.
Add us as a preferred source on Google