Spurs to sign Friedel from Villa

Posted Friday, June 03, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (AFP) - American goalkeeper Brad Friedel is set to sign a two-year deal with Tottenham as the London club look to bolster their last line of defence following Heurelho Gomes' mitigated season as number one.

At 40 years old Friedel is in the twilight of his career but he is expected to provide competition to Brazilian Gomes, who came under fire after committing a number of costly errors during the season.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said: "Brad is a top goalkeeper of real quality who has great experience.

"It is good to have three such experienced top goalkeepers at the club in Gomes, Carlo (Cudicini) and now Brad and it means we have competition for places particularly with the number of games we will hopefully face next year both domestically and in Europe as well."

Italian goalkeeper Cudicini last month signed a contract extension through to the end of next season, while Gomes has been linked with a return to old club PSV Eindhoven.

Gomes has made a number of high-profile mistakes during his time with Spurs.

He fumbled a shot from Cristiano Ronaldo in a Champions League quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid at White Hart Lane in April and in the same month allowed a Frank Lampard shot to squirm away from him, although replays showed the goal should not have been awarded to Chelsea because Gomes was able to retrieve the ball before it crossed the line.

Friedel's contract at Aston Villa was due to expire at the end of the month and no transfer fee will be involved in the deal.

The American has a vast amount of Premier League experience.

He first moved to England in December 1997 when he joined Liverpool from Columbus Crew.

He started 25 league games for the Merseyside club before spending almost eight years at Blackburn. He moved to Villa in July 2008 and in December of that year he broke the record for consecutive top-flight appearances when he lined up for a 167th straight game.

Incredibly he has now extended that record to 275 matches and will be aiming to establish himself as Spurs' number one for the new season.