Coupet to sign?

From The Sun:

JUANDE RAMOS is set to bring Lyon keeper Gregory Coupet to Tottenham for £2.5million.


The Spurs boss is on the verge of striking a deal with the French champions for their experienced stopper.


Coupet, 35, will be France’s first choice at Euro 2008 and will come in to give England’s Paul Robinson competition.


And a Lyon source confirmed: “It’s true Tottenham are interested in Coupet. There’ll be an announcement this week.”


Coupet has two years left on his contract and Spurs will pay a £2.5m get-out clause.


The French star will then sign a three-year deal worth around £35,000 a week.


An announcement by Lyon is expected to be made after the French Cup final against Paris St Germain on Saturday.


It is understood Coupet will not arrive with any assurance of being first choice as Ramos wants to encourage a battle for Spurs’ No 1 shirt between the Frenchman and Robinson.


Capturing Coupet, who has starred in all of Lyon’s seven consecutive Championnat titles, is a major coup for Ramos.


Robinson’s No 2 Radek Cerny joined QPR after two seasons at White Hart Lane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9gory_Coupet

Club career
Coupet began his club career with hometown team Club Olympique Le Puy, before going pro with AS Saint-Étienne in 1994. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 26 March 1994 in a 2-0 victory against Angers SCO[1]. After three seasons, he surprisingly moved to league rival Olympique Lyonnais (the two cities are only 80 kilometers apart, and are long-time local and national rivals). His gamble paid off as Lyon have regularly dominated the Le Championnat since 2002 and are also a regular fixture in the UEFA Champions League.

On August 2, 2007, Coupet suffered a torn internal medial ligament in his left knee after catching his foot in the net during a training session. He underwent surgery four days later and missed the remainder of 2007, including France's final Euro 2008 qualifiers. He later joked on Lyon's official television network, "The good side...is that [France] have a rugby World Cup coming and I’ll be able to enjoy every bit of it.”

Coupet returned to the squad in the new year making his return in Lyon's 4-0 victory over Ligue 2 side US Créteil in the Coupe de France on January 6, 2008.

Since his return, he has played all of Lyon's matches; including the champions leagues games against Manchester United.


[edit] International career
Coupet has 27 caps with France. He made his international debut against Australia during France's 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup-winning campaign. He was called up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as the backup to Fabien Barthez, but did not play. The following year, Coupet kept three clean sheets and conceded only three goals in five games as France won the 2003 Confederations Cup, which marked their second victory in the competition in three years.

Though Coupet started six of 10 games in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds, coach Raymond Domenech surprisingly elected Barthez as his number one, which would relegate Coupet to the bench once again. Many had expected Coupet to be chosen as the starter due to his excellent performances with Olympique Lyonnais that had contributed greatly to their torrid streak of five Ligue 1 championships. This ultimately led to a row on May 25, 2006 between Coupet and Domenech that resulted in Coupet storming out of the team's training camp in Tignes with his family in tow, but he later returned and made amends with the coach.

Coupet is now France's number one after Barthez announced his retirement from both club and country football in August 2006. His first regular stint - currently during the Euro 2008 qualifiers - however, has gotten off to a less-than-desired start; France were upset by Scotland 1-0 on October 7, and a hand injury suffered in that match kept him out of France's 5-0 victory over the Faroe Islands four days later.


[edit] Quotes
"Personally, I don’t take food supplements to increase my performances but to have better recuperation. For a long time I preferred to not take supplements, I rather ate natural products. I used to consider supplements as doping. However, supplements have nothing to do with doping, some of them are essential for our recuperation and therefore are [healthy]."

"[Barthez and I] get on really well off the pitch, even if we don’t phone each other up all the time. We often go for coffee at the French training camps and we have a very laid back relationship." (March 2005)

"I just hate hypocrisy, people who say something to your face and something else behind your back. If something has gone wrong, then I say so."

"I have always dreamed of being the number one in the [France national] team. I've been dreaming about it since I was six years old and it's not going to change now."


[edit] Trivia
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

It wasn't until 2005 that Coupet was voted for the first time, at age 33, into the top 10 for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award. He finished with 43 votes, fourth behind winner Petr Čech, Dida, and Gianluigi Buffon, respectively. He has also twice been named Ligue 1 Keeper of the Year, in 2004 and 2005.
One of his hobbies is reading.
In February 2006, France Football magazine conducted a poll among its readers as to who should be France's first-choice goalie for the World Cup; Coupet received 69 percent of the votes. (Barthez received 28 percent.)
He openly wept during the group photo before France faced Turkey in a 2003 Confederations Cup semifinal match, which had taken place just hours after the shocking death of his close friend and former Lyon teammate Marc-Vivien Foé.
Coupet credits the aftermath of Foe's death in helping him gain a new perspective on life, in the process settling his differences with Lyon after having been engaged in nasty contract imbroglios for most of the 2002-03 season, which included at one point his vowing never to play for the club again.
Coupet is often frequented in "best goalkeeper saves" collection clips with his memorable double save against FC Barcelona during an 1999 UEFA Cup match, when he first acrobatically headed an unintended lob by a defender to his own crossbar, and then immediately parried a close header by the arriving Barcelona striker Rivaldo to corner.

He's one of my favorite goalkeeper

He sounds very good, I just have a concern about his height as according to wikipedia he is 5ft 11, e.g. smaller than Robbo.

Is he any good? Anyone see him play recently? More importantly, is there room in the carpark for his bike and a hook in the changing room to hang up his onions?

haha...wouldn't he be more suited for the nonce down the road in that case?

Quote :

haha...wouldn't he be more suited for the nonce down the road in that case?

No, he's 35 years old not 3.5 years old. With a packet of sweets.........

Bolton boss Gary Megson is battling Aston Villa to sign Spurs keeper Paul Robinson in a £5m deal. (Daily Star)

battle away Megson and O'Neil, battle away

France keeper Gregory Coupet, who has been linked to a move to Tottenham, has said Saturday's game against Paris St Germain will be his last for Olympique Lyon. (OL-TV 2045 BST)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7416076.stm

Here you go......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nblkg-AzXNM

And the amazing double save he once made in a CL game vs Barce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iieYg7Sm8FM

more here....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP6V38haFBk

He looks pretty decent. Very experienced. He could very well work out for us. COYS

Hopefully, no more give-away goals from 30 yards either

"Lyon categorically deny having received any offer from the English club Tottenham Hotspur about the transfer of Gregory Coupet," read a brief statement on the club's official website.

"Moreover, the club would like to remind everyone of the fact that no discussions relating to transfers will take place before the Coupe de France final on Saturday in which the club as a whole have all their focus."




...sounds like we are likely interested then.

Daniel wrote:

battle away Megson and O'Neil, battle away

...Shame Kev's not in the market for a keeper... we'd probably double our money !