French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris joins LAFC after 11 1/2 seasons with Tottenham
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former World Cup champion Hugo Lloris became the latest 35-year-old-plus player to join Major League Soccer when the goalkeeper agreed to a one-year contract with Los Angeles FC and left Tottenham after 11 1/2 seasons.
LA announced the deal Saturday and said the agreement with the 37-year-old included options for 2025 and 2026, though it did not say whether the options belong to the team or the player.
Lloris, who has made a French-record 145 international appearances, joins a league that since last summer has added Miami's Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez (both 36) and Sergio Busquets (35).
Lloris won the 2018 World Cup with France and was Tottenham's first-choice goalkeeper from 2012-13, when he took over from Brad Friedel, through last season. Lloris made his last appearance on April 23 at Newcastle, where he allowed five goals in the first 21 minutes and was replaced by Fraser Forster at the start of the second half. The team said on May 5 that Lloris was missing the rest of the season because of a thigh injury.
Guglielmo Vicario has been Spurs' starter this season.
Lloris' acquisition by LAFC was a somewhat surprising decision for the club, which won its first MLS Cup championship in 2022 and got all the way back to the MLS Cup Final earlier this month, losing 2-1 to Columbus. LAFC's primary goalkeepers for those two seasons were MLS Cup heroes Maxime Crépeau and John McCarthy, but both are free agents.
Crépeau famously broke his leg while making a potentially game-saving challenge in the 2022 Cup Final, and McCarthy eventually won the game's MVP trophy after replacing him and making two saves in the championship-deciding shootout. McCarthy, who took over as the starter this season until Crépeau returned from his injury, already announced his departure from LAFC this week amid reports he plans to join the rival LA Galaxy.
“Hugo is arguably the most successful goalkeeper of his generation and a proven winner. We are incredibly excited that Hugo has chosen LAFC for the next phase of his illustrious career,” LAFC general manager John Thorrington said in a statement. “He brings unprecedented leadership experience at the highest levels of football."
LAFC initially built its winning roster with high-value signings from elsewhere in the Americas, but the 6-year-old club now has added older European stars Gareth Bale, Giorgio Chiellini and Lloris in the past two years. Bale retired before the 2023 season, and Chiellini announced his retirement three weeks ago.
Lloris played for Nice (2005-08) and Lyon (2008-13) before joining Spurs. He appeared in four World Cups, and his 20 World Cup matches are a record among goalkeepers.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
