Tottenham's acquisition of standout French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris figured to put American Brad Friedel's starting job in jeopary, but after Friedel's showing on Saturday, Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas has made it clear that the 41-year-old veteran is still the man to beat for the job.
Villas-Boas praised Friedel for his highlight-reel performance against Norwich City and offered that the 25-year-old Lloris won't have anything just given to him despite his status and reputation after his £12 million move from Lyon.
"When you transfer it's not written in the contract that you have to play," Villas-Boas said. "(Lloris) has to compete against three good goalkeepers, and at the moment Brad is doing extremely well. He deserves to be playing, and he'll continue to do so."
Villas-Boas' comments following Tottenham's last match have reportedly irked France manager Didier Deschamps, who claimed that Lloris "has not appreciated" what was said. If Lloris is to beat out Friedel, he will put a stop to his record streak of consecutive Premier League starts, which currently stands at 307 and dates back to 2004.
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MEIRELES SOLD TO FENERBAHCE
The transfer window might be closed in England, but it remains open in Turkey until Wednesday, and Fenerbahce managed to add another former Premier League player to its roster.
Chelsea sold Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles to Fenerbahce for a reported fee of £8 million, offloading a player that had a bigger role under Villas-Boas last year but was not among Roberto Di Matteo's top choices this season.
Meireles, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool toward the beginning of last season, has started just once in all competitions this season and joins Michael Essien as midfielders offloaded by the Blues during the transfer period. He joins former Liverpool teammate Dirk Kuyt with the Turkish club.
PSG OFFICIALLY SIGN VAN DER WIEL
Like in Turkey, the transfer window in France remains open another day as well, and Paris St-Germain added yet another international-caliber player into the mix by signing Dutch right back Gregory van der Wiel from Ajax.
The deal was reportedly agreed to on Friday but was not completed until Monday, as Van der Wiel joins the French power on a four-year deal. The move for the 24-year-old Van der Wiel is his first as a professional, as he had spent his entire career with Ajax after coming up through the club's storied academy.
ERIKSSON HEADS TO THAILAND
Sven-Goran Eriksson's next destination is Thailand.
The well-traveled manager and former England, Mexico and Ivory Coast boss has become the technical director of Thai club BEC Tero Sasana, a club in search of its third league title but one that sits in fourth place in the top flight. Eriksson's new team is well behind leaders Muang Thong United and seven points behind third-place Buriram United, the club that employs former University of Akron star and San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong.
Eriksson was most recently the coach of Leicester City before departing last October.
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What do you think of the goalkeeping situation developing at Tottenham? Do you think Villas-Boas is handling it correctly? Do you think Chelsea's midfield depth will suffer without the likes of Meireles and Essien? What do you make of PSG adding Van der Wiel? Eriksson's latest move sound about right to you?
Share your thoughts below.