Former Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris launches stinging attack on Daniel Levy – and the chairman’s ‘finalist’ luxury watch gift that he refuses to wear – as he reveals stars’ anger at £10m Amazon doc

Former Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris has launched a scathing attack on club chairman Daniel Levy in his new autobiography.

The French goalkeeper spent 11 and a half years at Spurs – eight of which were with the captaincy – before eventually leaving for MLS side LAFC in 2023.

Although he achieved success with his national side during his career, such as winning the 2018 World Cup, Lloris failed to lift a trophy during his time in North London.

Two defeats in the Carabao Cup final and a Champions League final loss to Liverpool still haunt the Frenchman, which he openly reflected on in his new book.

When speaking about the match against the Reds in 2018/2019, Lloris discussed an incident that happened four days before the final that he still hasn’t gotten over.

Lloris questioned the president’s mentality ahead of the 2019 Champions League final

Levy presented players with luxury watches with the word ‘Champions League finalist’ engraved on them just days before their match. (Image: The IWC Pilot watch released a month before the final)

In his new book, Hugo Lloris: Earning my Spurs, he explained: ‘Four days before the final, Daniel Levy called us all together to announce that, with the support of a sponsor, we would all receive a luxury pilot’s watch from the club received. .

‘At first we were excited to see the elegant boxes. Then we opened them and discovered that on the back of each timepiece he had engraved the player’s name and ‘Champions League Finalist 2019’. ‘Finalist.’

‘Who does something like that at a time like this? I’m still not over it, and I’m not alone. If we had won, he wouldn’t have asked for the watches and had ‘Winner’ engraved instead.

‘I have a lot of respect and appreciation for the man and everything he has done for the club as chairman – I have gotten to know him – but there are things he is just not sensitive to.

‘No matter how beautiful the watch is, I have never worn it. I would have preferred if there was nothing on it. With such an engraving, Levy could not have been surprised if we were 1-0 down after a few minutes: that’s how it was written.

In 2018, Tottenham announced IWC Schaffhausen as their ‘Official Timing Partner’ – which is probably why they got the luxury watches.

When former players Jan Vertonghen and Michel Vorm left the club in 2020, they also received luxury watches from the same brand as a gift.

Ultimately, Spurs fell short in their pursuit of the Champions League title after a 2-0 defeat to Premier League rivals Liverpool.

Lloris was unable to prevent Tottenham losing 2-0 to Premier League rivals Liverpool

The North London side went down 1-0 within the first 30 seconds and failed to recover

When Michel Vorm (left) and Jan Vertonghen (right) left the club, they also received watches as a gift

They went down 1-0 inside 30 seconds after Moussa Sissoko was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area and spent the rest of the match knocking on the door of a resolute Liverpool defense.

Ultimately, super sub Divock Origi confirmed the defeat with a late attack that Lloris could not stop.

That final seemingly derailed Mauricio Pochettino’s project at Tottenham and in the years that followed, Spurs failed to replicate the same success as the Argentine’s early years.

It’s an issue that Lloris also discussed in his autobiography, with the Frenchman suggesting that the Amazon documentary series – titled ‘All or Nothing’ – played a major factor in their downfall.

‘Tensions that would only increase following a decision by the club that would affect the daily life of the team; a decision made without the consent of the team or the manager: installing cameras everywhere for Amazon’s series about the Spurs.

‘In light of the amount quoted – around £10 million – we wondered whether those whose seasons and activities would be affected, anyone asked to perform every day, would receive a discount. The answer was not long in coming: no.

‘So when the film crew placed small microphones on some cafeteria tables, we sat at others. We had to be careful all the time. The only place we could speak freely was the training locker room – we had convinced them to keep it off limits.

Lloris also questioned the club’s decision to take part in an Amazon ‘All or Nothing’ series

The Frenchman was club captain at the time and admitted it felt like an invasion of privacy

“Otherwise they had microphones and cameras everywhere – even at some practice sessions, which was no small thing: it was a limitation and it had consequences.”

Fan favorite Pochettino was sacked in the early stages of that season and was quickly replaced by my Jose Mourinho, who also struggled to get the best out of Tottenham’s stars.

Lloris remained an integral member of the Spurs squad in the years that followed, until the arrival of Ange Postecoglou in 2023, where he quickly fell out of favour.

After failing to make a single appearance in the first half of the season under the Australian, he was eventually given a move to America with LAFC.