Credit: Breaking Media/ Imago

Daniel Lewis

Wed 11 March 2026 8:10, UK

Johan Lange was personally behind the decision to bring Antonin Kinsky to Tottenham Hotspur in a transfer that sums up exactly what is wrong with Spurs right now.

Kinsky was hauled off inside 17 minutes of Tuesday evening’s 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg.

The 22-year-old was at fault for a couple of goals as Spurs found themselves three goals down by that point, before shipping a fourth before the break after Guglielmo Vicario had stepped in.

Tottenham’s pathetic defeat to Atletico was the latest in a string of horror shows, with Kinsky coming out worse than any of his team-mates.

What did Johan Lange say about Antonin Kinsky upon signing?

Sporting director Lange’s job is surely now at risk following a fourth defeat in four games for Igor Tudor since replacing Thomas Frank.

Kinsky had the embarrassment of being taken off by Tudor, who felt he had no choice in an apparent attempt to protect the keeper.

The Czech Republic under-21’s Spurs career has never truly taken off, even if Lange felt he would solve all of the North London club’s problems when joining a little over a year ago.

Speaking to Spurs’ official YouTube channel in February 2025, Lange said of Kinsky’s signing: “He’s a goalkeeper that already, despite his young age, is quite proven.

“He has been in goal in the Czech divisions for the last few years. For me, he is a very modern goalkeeper and he’s a goalkeeper that suits our style of play.

“It’s not always easy of course. I think here, I think he was very impressed to learn about all the intel that we had about him, how we have followed him for a long time.

“We know a lot about him also as a character as well. Of course, he had a conversation with Ange [Postecoglou] as well about the most specific style of play.

“And I think that definitely helped, that he was comfortable making the move mid-season. As I said, we have, we are following him a lot.

“I think we watched him, I think 10 or 12 times live since, since the summer, and we have very detailed knowledge of him also as a character, so we are very excited that he is now at the club.”

Lange could not have been more wrong about Kinsky, which has also been the case for far too many Tottenham signings under his watch.

With Vicario also failing to fill supporters with any sort of confidence, a new goalkeeper has to be a priority in the summer should the Lilywhites stay in the Premier League.

Kinsky’s Atletico Madrid display in numbers

Kinsky was making just his third appearance in all competitions for Tottenham this season in the loss in Madrid.

The former Slavia Prague stopper, who cost Spurs a reported £12.5million, was at fault for Marcos Llorente’s and Julian Alvarez’s goals at Wanda Metropolitano.

As per Sofascore, Kinsky recorded an abysmal rating of 4.9, having made no saves and registered two errors leading to goals.

Indeed, Kinsky’s goals prevented was minus 0.64. That means he effectively did more to harm Spurs than help them.

Kinsky registered five touched of the ball in all, one of those unsuccessful, and lost possession a couple of times.

In terms of replacement Vicario, dropped after some dire displays of his own, he had a goals prevented of minus 1.01 and was therefore just as culpable.

He did at least make a couple of saves to finish with a Sofascore rating of 6.3, but that is certainly nothing to shout home about.

For what it is worth, Kinsky had ratings of 7.4 and 6.3 in his only two other appearances this season, coming in the EFL Cup win at Doncaster Rovers and loss to Newcastle United respectively.

With 1.5 saves made per game and one error made, it is fair to say there is no future for Kinsky at Tottenham.