Tottenham will not sign a free agent following an injury to Guglielmo Vicario, while their January transfer plans remain unchanged, manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed.
The goalkeeper has undergone surgery on a fractured ankle, after playing an hour with the injury in the stunning 4-0 win at Manchester City, and is expected to be sidelined for months.
Second-choice goalkeeper Fraser Forster is Vicario's back-up and has started three times this season - once in the Carabao Cup, twice in the Europa League.
Academy graduates Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman are also in Postecoglou’s first-team squad, but remain without a senior appearance for Spurs.
Spurs welcome Roma to N17 on Thursday before Fulham make the short trip across London on Sunday in the first of nine games in December, which also includes a Premier League derby against Chelsea and a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.
Forster, 36, has plenty of experience, and this season impressed in a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar, but Spurs are understood to have planned to bring in younger competition for Vicario in the summer - but will not look at a short-term option, with the likes of Loris Karius and Keylor Navas currently without a club.
Asked on Wednesday if Spurs will explore free agent options ahead of the winter window, manager Ange Postecoglou told reporters: “That's not going to happen.
“That's why we've got a squad of players here. I don't think us signing a free agent now is going to help us.
“If I hadn't named Fraser in the Europa squad, then jeez that would've been a radical decision, and you're left with two, again they wouldn't be able to play in Europe, then you kind of look at it.
“Unless something else happened, that's why we've got four goalkeepers.
“Fraser I've known for a long time and he's such a strong character within the group and ready to play. Brandon's improving all the time and Alfie's been at the club for a while. Whenever they've been asked, in terms of the training capacity they bring, we're happy with what we've got.”
Discussing a possible replacement coming in during the winter window, Postecoglou added: “January, we're always working towards the next window of what the best scenario is for us, and a lot of that will depend on where we're at from the squad perspective and the game's perspective.
“Just this injury doesn't change any plans for January.”
