Former West Ham United star Martin Allen has revealed that when he saw Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga at Gillingham he instantly thought of Arsenal legend David Seaman.
Gazzaniga is a highly rated goalkeeper at Tottenham and will now be their first choice between the sticks due to the shoulder injury Hugo Lloris picked up before the international break.
Mauricio Pochettino is a big fan of the 27-year-old and signed him for Spurs after managing him at Southampton during his first job in English football.
But Gazzaniga’s journey in English football started before Pochettino arrived and he signed for League Two side Gillingham in 2011 after he was released from Valencia.
Allen, who managed Gazzaniga for a short period of time at Gillingham, revealed that from the first day he laid his eyes on the Argentine, the goalkeeper always had a presence and an aura around him.
He compared the Spurs goalkeeper to former Arsenal and England custodian Seaman and admits that his temperament made him a brilliant person to work with.
“On the first day of pre-season training at Gillingham, I looked across the training pitch and there was a 6ft 5in sun-tanned chap with hair down to his shoulders in a ponytail”, Allen told The Athletic.
“He looked like some kind of movie star. And I thought: ‘How on earth can he be a goalkeeper?’
“It was clear straight away that he had a real presence. He gave off an aura of confidence, almost arrogance.
“The closest I’d ever seen was David Seaman when I was at QPR. He never rushed, took his time, went at his own pace. And Paulo had the same sort of calm, unflustered manner.
“He has a very good temperament and was an absolute pleasure to work with.”
Pochettino will hope Gazzaniga shows the same calm temperament as Tottenham look to get out of the doldrums in the next few weeks.
