Andre Villas-Boas has warned Hugo Lloris that he will have to battle hard to become Tottenham's number one after Brad Friedel prevented the Portuguese from suffering his second defeat in charge on Saturday.
Tottenham beat a host of Europe's top clubs to land Lloris in a £12million deal on deadline day, but the Portuguese admits he will not drop the former Blackburn goalkeeper - who was named man of the match in the 1-1 draw against Norwich on Saturday after pulling off three top-class saves - if he maintains his current form.
"When you transfer it's not written in the contract that you have to play," Villas-Boas said. "He 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."
One of Norwich's top performers on Saturday, Sebastien Bassong, was also full of praise for his former team-mate.
"Uncle Brad was magic, I've never doubted his quality. He is one of the best in the Premier League," Bassong said. "He's a terrific player and there's going to be a tough competition between him and Hugo.
"They finished fourth last year and (Friedel) played a big part in that."
Bassong was unlucky not to claim the man of the match award after he kept Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor quiet for most of the game in north London.
"I'm really delighted about my return to White Hart Lane. It was a bit emotional for me," the defender said.
"I had a good relationship with the fans here so it was nice of them to give me a good reception. I'm really happy for them. I owe them a lot and I want to thank them."
The Cameroon international, who was sold by Villas-Boas for £3million last month, revealed he had told the Spurs boss that he would regret letting him go. "When I left I said to him 'you'll buy me back one day'," Bassong said with a smile. "It was a bit of a joke. I've got a good relationship with him so I have a joke with him."
