Who is Guglielmo Vicario? Once sold for the price of a PlayStation, now a Spurs star
With the summer transfer window now in full swing, we continue our look at some of the hot names in the news.
Jacque Talbot of FootballTransfers assesses Tottenham’s signing of Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Serie A side Empoli.
In preparation for the 2023-24 Premier League season, Tottenham decided enough was enough and brought in a new goalkeeper.
Enter Guglielmo Vicario.
Hugo Lloris has been a gallant servant for the London club, but the amount of mistakes he was making meant change felt inevitable this summer. Spurs moved quickly to snap up Empoli's Vicario in a deal worth an initial £17.2million.
Vicario emerged as the primary target for Spurs after their interest in Brentford’s David Raya waned due to his hefty £40m price tag.
There is much hope around the 26-year-old Italian, at least a lot more than compatriot Pierluigi Gollini - who struggled to make an impact when on loan at Tottenham during the 2021-22 season.
Guglielmo Vicario Transfer Value - how much is he worth?
Our Expected Transfer Value (xTV) right now for Vicario is €7.9million. The highest it has ever been is €8.4m, but his price tag has really rocketed since making the move from AC Perugia Calcio to Empoli.
The shot stopper gained his first taste of senior action during the 2014-15 season with Fontanafredda, where he made 30 appearances in the fourth tier of Italian football.
He was then shipped on loan to Venezia in the 2015-16 season - a campaign where he kept a decent 17 clean sheets in 36 Serie D matches, helping his team achieve promotion to the third division.
Quite remarkably, he signed a permanent deal for just €500 the following year.
Cagliari took a chance on Vicario, acquiring him for €2m (£1.7m) before immediately loaning him back to Serie B with Perugia. He finally made his Serie A debut in April 2021 for Cagliari in a 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan.
Vicario was part of the club’s journey to the Coppa Italia last 16 in the 2020-21 season, before being eventually relegated to the bench towards the end of the campaign.
For the 2021-22 season, Vicario was sent on loan to Empoli, where he established himself as a top-level goalkeeper as his displays ensured survival for the club.
Empoli exercised their option to buy Vicario for a modest fee of just €8.5m ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, and he did nothing but further improve his reputation.
It proved to be Vicario’s best season, making seven clean sheets in 31 matches.
The trajectory has been sublime. From being sold for the price of a PlayStation to being first choice for one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League.
It is quite a story.
The turnaround was not lost on Vicario, either. He told Spurs’ in-house media upon signing: “Yes, I’m excited. It’s a dream for me to be here, one of the biggest teams in England and in the Premier League. I’d like to start quickly, to join my team-mates because, for me, it’s a big pleasure to be here.
“I didn’t believe this opportunity. I told my agent it’s my first choice, I want to go to the Premier League and a big club like Spurs. For me, it’s so exciting.
“I want to learn a lot of things because the culture of football in Italy is so different. I need to adapt quickly to my team-mates, to the style of play, [there are] so many differences between Italian football and the Premier League.”
Vicario strengths, weaknesses and stats
Vicario has described himself as an attacking goalkeeper. This will be music to the ears of new manager Ange Postecoglou, who is a progressive coach and sets his teams up to be on the front foot.
For Postecoglou, it all starts off with a goalkeeper who is very comfortable on the ball, and Vicario fits the bill.
He averages over 44 touches per 90 minutes, which is in the 91st percentile amongst keepers in the top five leagues. Vicario also has a good variety to his passing - making over 25 passes per 90 with a good balance of short, medium and long range.
Shot-stopping is bread and butter for every goalkeeper. Last season, Vicario had an Expected Saves (xS) per 90 minutes figure of 2.67 - which means he was expected to make almost 3 saves per 90 minutes based on the quality of shots on target he faced.
Vicario also has the ability to make saves which can win points for his team. He made an incredible seven big saves in the 2021/22 season, and followed that up with three big saves last season.
For some context, a big save is a save from open play which has a Post Shot Expected Goal (PSxG) value of over 0.75, statistically equivalent to saving a penalty.
All of the above is even more impressive when he was playing for an Empoli side which finished in the bottom half of the table.
Vicario’s 0.52 defensive actions outside the penalty box last season is not impressive. But that was not helped by playing in an Empoli team which sits very deep, limiting the opportunities he has to sweep in behind his defenders.
Although Vicario has shown proactiveness off his line, he has sometimes been caught in two minds - leading to errors. This aspect of his game will be tested a lot more next season, and is an area he will need to improve upon.
Though this move may initially raise some eyebrows, it is a shrewd signing for Tottenham.
Their new No.1 is the personification of a new era in north London.