Former PL star admits he would have considered joining Spurs this season

Ben Foster has suggested that he was tempted to join Tottenham Hotspur when the club expressed an interest in signing him last month but explained that Premier League rules prevented the move from going through. 

Foster, who had been without a club since leaving Watford last summer, re-signed for Wrexham last week, 18 years after leaving the Welsh club in 2005.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

It was reported at the start of February following Hugo Lloris’ knee ligament injury that Spurs were interested in signing the 39-year-old goalkeeper as a backup to Fraser Forster (The Mirror).

However, the move never came to fruition as the Premier League did not give Spurs the special dispensation required to register a player outside an official transfer window (The Daily Mail).

Foster has now admitted that he was keen to move to N17, having supported the Lilywhites as a boy but explained that the Premier League did not allow Spurs to sign him since Alfie Whiteman did not count as a youth or reserve team goalkeeper.

The former Man Utd man told talkSPORT: “It’s a case of they had to find out if I’m interested first and foremost and straight away that was a yes.

“I was a boyhood Spurs fan so definitely something I would’ve contemplated.

“They then have to go to the Premier League and try and get special dispensation to see if they can sign another goalkeeper as an emergency signing.

“The problem was that Fraser Forster was fully fit, while second-choice goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman is 23 years old so he doesn’t really count as a youth team goalie or reserve team goalie.

“He counts as a senior team goalie. That straight away got chucked out.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

One can understand why the Premier League rules are quite stringent in this regard as they do not want any team to take advantage of potential loopholes.

Thankfully for Spurs, Forster has come through this two-month spell unscathed and Hugo is now close to returning to action.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know