“Unpleasant’ – Player’s father on son’s Tottenham nightmare

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Antonín Kinský’s father was confident his son would turn things around at the Premier League side after a difficult period in March

Spurs signed him from Slavia Prague in January 2025, and the stopper was initially a backup to Guglielmo Vicario.

His situation improved a lot after Roberto De Zerbi arrived at Tottenham in March. This also coincided with Vicario undergoing hernia surgery, allowing him to stay in goal in the Italian’s absence.

Since then, the Czech Republic international has been De Zerbi’s No.1 and hasn’t missed a match.

The stopper has kept eight clean sheets and conceded 38 goals in 26 matches for the north London club.

Tottenham man overcoming disappointment 

Last season, Spurs had a difficult run in the league and went through Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor before Roberto De Zerbi’s arrival.

Tudor was in for a short spell, and Guglielmo Vicario didn’t fully convince him. He handed Antonín Kinský his Champions League debut in Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-2 defeat to Atlético Madrid in March.

Spurs conceded three goals in 15 minutes, and Tudor replaced Kinský in the 17th minute. The latter received widespread support from everywhere, including from former goalkeepers like Filipe De Wilde.

His father, Antonín Kinský Sr. has given an interview to iSport.cz, where a section of it covers the clash against Los Rojiblancos. The outlet says this was a ‘critical period’ for the 23-year-old.

How Tottenham man deal with it

“Of course it was unpleasant. You wish for success, your head is racing: Now it will break, now it will get into the goal. It is terribly difficult to establish yourself in such a team because you have no name. And that is required in a big club,” he said.

“We considered this step a lot. I would not like to talk about it, but today one would probably think about it differently.”

“As for Tottenham, there was a long period when it was clear there was no chance of him getting into the starting line-up. And not everyone would have coped with that.”

“The only thing that got Tonda through it was his determination, his consistency in training and the high standards he set for himself. Even despite what happened to him at Atlético Madrid.”

“From my point of view, he’s a completely different goalkeeper now. Completely different. And that’s also down to the quality of his day-to-day work at the club.”

When asked whether Antonín Kinský surprised him after turning things around at Spurs, Kinský Sr. explained: “I expected it. I’m convinced of his qualities. But of course, I didn’t expect everything to happen quite so quickly. I have to take my hat off to him…”