Tottenham Hotspur Transfer News: Spurs Close to Signing Hugo Lloris

For Tottenham, if it's not one world-class player from a major European club, it's another.

ESPN has reported that Spurs are within arm's length of agreeing to a £12 million deal to sign France international keeper Hugo Lloris from Lyon.

Bringing the 25-year-old Lloris to White Hart Lane would be a step—no, a huge step—in the right direction for this new-look Spurs.

Starting 'keeper Brad Friedel is 41 years old and his backups, Carlo Cudicini and Heurelho Gomes, are both in their 30's. Although Friedel is playing at an incredibly high level, his days are numbered and a replacement needs to be found immediately.

It's funny that Lloris was the one who was picked, as the Frenchman has more in common with the American than you might think. Their strengths are their concentration and shot-stopping reflexes. They both have work to do in their long passes and handling of crosses into the box.

But they're not completely the same. Friedel has always been better at stopping close-range shots whereas Lloris, who is just as tall as Friedel yet much lighter, can get his body up and more easily stop long-range shots.

Lloris is also still an international star, earning 38 caps for France, and captaining his national side at Euro 2012.

With £30 million coming in from the recent sale of Luka Modric to La Liga giants Real Madrid and three days left in the summer transfer window, it looks like the north London club has decided to go ahead with a last-ditch, emergency spending spree to shore up their roster.

According to Yahoo Sports, Tottenham are on the verge of spending half the money they received from Modric's sale on luring his replacement, midfielder Moussa Dembele, away from cross-town rivals Fulham. The deal is done barring a medical examination.

Already, new manager Andre Villas-Boas has convinced the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jan Vertonghen and Emmanuel Adebayor to play for Tottenham.

Remember, Liverpool wanted Sigurdsson, Arsenal pursued Vertonghen and Manchester City was ready to play hardball with Emmanuel Adebayor.

If you count Dembele and Lloris, who was courted by Arsenal, Villas-Boas got the better of a number of top-tier English clubs and wrestled away five major players during this summer's transfer window.

I wonder what would happen in north London if Tottenham were able to sign Brazilian forward Willian away from Ukranian club Shakhtar Donetsk, as The Mirror reported they are interested in doing.