Fraser Forster is facing a lengthy injury layoff.
Football Insider reported on Wednesday (April 12) that ‘sources have confirmed that the Tottenham goalkeeper will be out for an extended period of time and will not return until mid-April. Foster, 35, suffered a fracture in his foot in training. The source explained that it will be another five weeks before he returns to training,’ the report said.
The news is unfortunate. Foster was signed by Tottenham ahead of the 2022-2023 season. Foster, who had played for Newcastle United, Norwich City, Celtic, and Southampton, was out of contract at Southampton and decided to join Spurs as a backup goalkeeper. The goalkeeper is good enough to have earned a call-up to the England national team at one point.
In his first season with the club, Hugo Llorez stepped up in a big way, starting 14 games in the league when he went down with injury. Off the field, the veteran led the team behind the scenes. Foster, in particular, got along very well with Son Heung-min after his transfer. Son acknowledged his friendship with Foster. It was Foster who lifted Son’s spirits after he returned from the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup quarterfinals depressed.
Foster’s presence has been a huge boost for the team this season, even though he has only played in the 바카라사이트 Carabao Cup because new signing Guglielmo Vicario has been so good.
He’s the backup keeper, but if Foster can’t play, Spurs will have to hope that Vicario doesn’t get injured. If Vicario does get injured and can’t play, Brandon Austin will have to step up.
Austin has been in the Tottenham youth ranks since he was a youngster and worked his way up to the first team, but he still has very little experience at the senior level. He spent the 2019-2020 season on loan with Viborg in Norway and the 2021-2022 season with Orlando in the United States, but has only played 19 first-team games in those two spells combined.
Tottenham are currently fighting for a top-four finish, so the pressure on their players will be very high as the season draws to a close. In this situation, when the first and second choice goalkeepers are injured and the third choice goalkeeper is playing with little experience, the backline itself can become very unstable. This could be an opportunity for Austin, but it’s unclear how competitive an inexperienced goalkeeper can be in the EPL.