Spurs fail in attempt to bring Ben Foster out of retirement after being refused special permission

Ben Foster will not come out of retirement and sign for Spurs after their plans to bring the goalkeeper to North London were scuppered by the Premier League.

It was reported last week that the 39-year-old was 'being considered' by Antonio Conte's side as a replacement for the injured Hugo Lloris, who was ruled out for eight weeks after suffering knee ligament damage in their 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Spurs were said to be 'ready' to make a move for free agent Foster, although reports claimed Spurs would need special dispensation from the Premier League to add the goalkeeper to their 25-man squad.

But now it appears that dispensation has been denied, despite clubs being able to register players outside of the transfer window under certain circumstances.

The Daily Mail suggest Spurs' plan to bring Foster out of retirement will not be cleared by the league under their current rules.

The 39-year-old goalkeeper, who made 536 senior appearances at club level, decided to hang up his gloves in September after spells at Manchester United, Birmingham and Watford.

Speaking to his YouTube channel Ben Foster - The Cycling GK to confirm his retirement, he also revealed that he turned down a move to Premier League high flyers Newcastle before retiring.

"Newcastle was really interesting to me, I asked for a really good wage and hoped they would say no," Foster explained.

"It was nice to feel wanted but I didn't want the upheaval of living away from my family. I was so happy to walk away. I didn't want to do it.

"I had this deep feeling, I didn't want to move away from home. I didn't want to be in an apartment away from my family at the age of 39. You have to go with your gut feeling."

It looks like Ben Foster will not join Premier League outfit Spurs, a club he supported as a kid, this season. Image credit: Alamy

Foster added: "Especially at the age I am and everything I've got going on. The lads would have been brilliant and I would have buzzed off the stadium, the fans, all that kind of stuff. The overriding sinking feeling was I don't want to do this."

The former Manchester United goalkeeper posts regularly to his YouTube channels, including the popular Fozcast podcast that has featured the likes of Mark Noble, Troy Deeney and Martin O'Neill in recent months.

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