Tottenham keeper Alfie Whiteman out until May with knee injury

Tottenham Hotspur have a new injury concern. The club announced today that third string keeper Alfie Whiteman is out of action until at least May after injuring his knee in training.

As far as injuries go, this is a lot less consequential for Tottenham than most. A Spurs academy graduate and local boy born in Tottenham, Whiteman made the leap up to Tottenham’s third string keeper position in January after Spurs loaned Paulo Gazzaniga to Elche in January.

The third string keeper doesn’t see a lot of action — it’s basically a “break glass in case of emergency” position, and with Hugo Lloris and Joe Hart both firmly established in front of Alfie this probably isn’t anything to get too worked up over. In fact, the only first team action Alfie’s seen all season was an 8 minute cameo (his first team debut!) against Ludogorets in the Europa League back in November. Still, injuries suck and I feel bad for Alfie, even though I know they happen.

It’s an open question now as to who will step up to be Spurs’ third string keeper in his absence, or even if they make a promotion. Whiteman’s club “rival” at that position, Brandon Austin, is currently on loan at Orlando, and the club sold Jonathan de Bie to Molenbeek around the same time.

If there’s a player who’s going to step into the third first team keeper void, it’s probably going to come from the U23s. Joshua Oluwayemi and Kacper Kurylowicz are the two keepers at that level. Of those two my guess is that it’s Oluwayemi who would be called up to train with the first team. He’s highly regarded by Spurs youth watchers, and hopefully Spurs won’t need to rely on him at all.

Get well soon, Alfie!