Anthony Lozano signs with Tottenham?

It's true! Well kind of...
Conflicting reports are being published both in England and Honduras regarding the future of Anthony Lozano. Some state that he will be on trial with Tottenham Hotspur for the next ten days while others claim that a deal is already in place for the 17 year-old striker.

Yet, the President of Olimpia (his current team in Honduras), Rafael Ferrari, insists that a deal has been agreed upon between both clubs and Lozano is just going for a medical examination. Whatever the case may be, the player left Honduras at 7 AM on August 11 with his father, Ruben Lincona, his sister Wendy, and Osman Madrid (Sports Director of Olimpia). Destination... England.

For those of you who don't know much about "El Choco," here is a biography I put together after some extensive research.

Anthony was born on the April 25th, 1993 in Yoro, Honduras. His family then moved to San Pedro Sula where he began playing for the Youth Academy of Club Deportivo Marathon. However, he quickly found his home at Platense Juniors where, at a very young age, he topped the scoring charts of the youth league. He even got media attention from "La Prensa" after scoring 18 goals in a single game.

His natural goalscoring prowess eventually landed him a scholarship to play for the Instituto Don Bosco where he led the team to consecutive titles of the "Codicader Central American Games" in 2007 and 2008. Because of his success, he quickly caught the attention of many coaches and teams across Honduras and earned a call-up to represent Honduras on the U-15 level.

Curious Tidbit: His older brother, Luis Ramos, is also a footballer. Ramos and his team, Debreceni VSC, were crowned champions last year in Hungary and participated in the Champions League. Ramos was also voted best winger of the Hungarian League in 2008 while playing with Nyíregyháza Spartacus. He was called up by the Honduran National Team for the Gold Cup 2009 but has never been capped.

After representing Honduras on the U-15 stage, Lozano continued to climb through the ranks and made the list for the U-17 team. He also landed a contract with Honduran Champions, Olimpia, and became the youngest player to debut in the Honduran League at the age of 15.

While playing for Olimpia, he continued to train with the U-17 squad and during the run up to the U-17 World Cup Qualification Round, El "Choco" found the net 6 times: scoring 5 times in Honduras' humiliating 9-0 win against Belize and netting the only goal in the 1-0 triumph over Panama. During qualification for the U-17 World Cup, he scored yet again in a 1-1 tie with Canada and went on to score a hat-trick against Cuba in Honduras' 6-0 win (which meant qualification to the World Cup in Nigeria). His tournament total was 10 goals in 5 matches (including a loss to the USA).

And in the midst of all of this, he also got called up for the Honduran U-20 squad that qualified for the World Cup in Egypt. Despite his young age of 16, it came as no surprise that he had been called up. Yet, with both World Cups coming up, Lozano had to choose which team he wanted to play for.

He finally chose to play for the U-17 team, explaining that his time to play in the U-20 World Cup would come later. During the World Cup in Nigeria, Honduras accumulated a 1-0 loss to Argentina, 1-0 loss to Nigeria and a 3-1 loss to Germany. However, leader and captain, Anthony Lozano, scored the only goal for Honduras in the tournament with an accurate, left-footed shot (Bringing his total to 11 goals in 8 matches). Despite his team's poor showing, Lozano proved himself on the international level and was one of the few, positive factors to take back from the tournament.

Since the tournament, he has made a couple of appearances for Olimpia in which he even managed to score a hat-trick against Club Deportivo Victoria in a 6-0 win.

Reports claim that Tottenham had tracked the young star since the run up to the U-17 World Cup and his performances had convinced them that he would become one of, if not the best, CONCACAF player to come out of the area.


Editor's Opinion: After watching Lozano play for years before all the international hype, I can truly state that he is one-of-a-kind. We have uncovered a true gem! I've followed him since he joined Olimpia and have anxiously waited for the day a big, European club came by to "discover" him... He is one of those players that you just watch and know that he has something special.

And it's funny because I saw him at a Pizza Hut one time in San Pedro Sula... Who would've guessed it wouldn't be that long before he was in Europe? Thank god I took a picture with him before he makes it to the very top.

Well thanks for reading, have a great one!