The Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has said that he wants to keep the American International Brad Friedel at the club, despite the 41-year-old coming to the end of his contract. The former Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper has been one of the best in the Premier league over the past couple of seasons.

He has to record for the most number of consecutive appearances in the Premier league, while he has recently been dropped to the bench in favour of the much younger French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Due to the concerns about his age and the contract situation, it is thought that the manager Andre Villas-Boas made the decision to use Hugo Lloris instead of Brad Friedel.

However, the manager has confirmed in a recent interview that Friedel still remains part of its plans and he intends to offer him a new contract. This comes as a major boost for the American International, who has been widely tipped to leave the club at the end of the season. It has been more than a month Friedel made an appearance for Tottenham in a competitive match. He is now set to face the Greek club Panathinaikos in the Europa league. Villas-Boas has said that Friedel has been excellent and he has no problems with him.

"We are trying to hold on to our best assets and Brad is certainly one of them. Brad has been excellent. I spoke to him and he has been such an important player for us. Rotation has not been because of performances. They have both been out for some time but we have to be sensible with the situation. Both goalkeepers' performances have been excellent. It gives me the ability at any time to throw a different keeper into the game," said Villas-Boas ahead of the Panathinaikos match.