Antonin Kinsky has had a mixed start to his first season as Tottenham Hotspur’s No. 1, but the numbers behind his opening five games tell an interesting story.Tottenham Hotspur were always expected to spend big during this summer’s transfer window as the club looked to add much-needed quality across multiple areas of the pitch, and they certainly did that – spending around £400 million on 10 new signings.There was one area, however, where the club chose not to make a major investment. Following Guglielmo Vicario’s loan move to Juventus, Tottenham did not sign an established goalkeeper to immediately take over as their first choice.Instead, De Zerbi put his faith in Antonin Kinsky, who had spent much of his last one and a half years in North London deputising for Vicario before taking his opportunity when the Italian was ruled out with injury. Kinsky produced a string of impressive performances towards the end of Tottenham’s relegation battle, doing enough to convince the new head coach that he could be trusted with the No. 1 shirt.Spurs did still bring in the experienced Martin Dubravka as a free agent to provide cover, and five Premier League games into the season, how well has that gamble actually paid off?Credit: @thatfootballphotog / InstagramAntonin Kinsky’s numbers make for interesting readingKinsky has had something of a rocky start to his first season as Tottenham’s No. 1. The 23-year-old made an error that led directly to a goal in the opening-day defeat to Brentford, before failing to make a single save in the following 0-2 defeat to Newcastle United.A. KinskýTottenham – Premier League (2026 – 2027)Appearances5Average Rating6.60Goals Conceded5Saves12Pass Accuracy (%)69.00Stats correct as of 25 September 2026.He did manage to redeem himself with back-to-back clean sheets against Nottingham Forest and Everton, although there was not a huge amount for him to do in the former match. Kinsky had just one save to make against Forest, while the Everton draw saw him make 3 decent saves – one of which came after he gave the ball away himself in a dangerous area.The clean sheet run came to an end at the weekend, though, when Tottenham fell to a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa, although Kinsky wasn’t at fault for any of the goals conceded. Across his five league appearances, the Czech goalkeeper has made 12 saves, which puts him joint 14th in the Premier League alongside Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen, who was also linked with a move to Tottenham during the summer.Verbruggen has, however, been more efficient when called upon, as his save percentage (measured by the number of saves made from the total shots on target faced) stands at 70.6% compared to Kinsky’s 60 which ranks 17th among Premier League goalkeepers.Kinsky also currently has a negative goals prevented figure of -1.7. In simple terms, he has conceded more goals than would be expected based on the quality of the shots he has faced. That figure is the third-lowest this season.That said, it is important to put those numbers into context, because Kinsky has only played five Premier League games as Tottenham’s No. 1. It is a very small sample size for a goalkeeper playing his first full season as a top-flight starter, so it would be harsh to draw any major conclusions from it just yet.James Trafford is showing Tottenham what they could have hadTottenham were linked with several goalkeepers, including Leeds United’s James Trafford, who joined from Manchester City for a club-record £45 million.De Zerbi was a huge admirer of the England international, and there is little doubt that Trafford would have been a good fit for his backline. His arrival would also have helped address the club’s homegrown situation.Ultimately, though, any deal that would have been pursued would have harmed Kinsky’s development at Tottenham, and the North London club decided against pursuing Trafford.Trafford, meanwhile, has made an excellent start to his season at Leeds. He has already kept three clean sheets across all competitions, and these have not simply been straightforward games where he has had little to do. His save percentage currently stands at an incredible 87 per cent – the highest in the Premier League.It is therefore hard not to wonder what might have been had Spurs brought him in.READ MORE: Forget the goal drought, one stat shows Tottenham spent £400m well this summer The post Tottenham took one huge goalkeeper gamble this summer, and the early signs are mixed appeared first on Spurs Web.