Antonin Kinsky could be thrust back into the Tottenham spotlight sooner than anticipated with Guglielmo Vicario set for surgery.
Vicario’s omission from the Italy squad on Friday was followed by confirmation from Spurs that he had been playing despite an injury and would have a hernia operation next week.
The Italian keeper will be available for Sunday’s relegation showdown against Nottingham Forest, however, and Spurs hope he will be back within a month.
The next fixture after Forest will be at Sunderland on April 12 with Kinsky on standby.
The 23-year-old Czech suffered the humiliation of being substituted 17 minutes into his Champions League debut last week after making two costly mistakes in a 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid.
Vicario, who had been rested in Madrid, came off the bench to replace Kinsky in the first leg and played through the entire 90 minutes of the second leg, on Wednesday when Spurs won 3-2 but went out.
Spurs will have to swap first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario for either Antonin Kinsky or his untested understudy Brandon Austin
If Vicario is not ready for the trip to Sunderland, it will leave interim boss Igor Tudor to face the decision of whether to recall Kinsky or select his third choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin, who has not appeared all season.
Spurs issued a statement to say: ‘We can confirm that Guglielmo Vicario will undergo surgery next week on a hernia.
‘The minor procedure for the Italy international goalkeeper has been timed to have as minimal impact on our season as possible.
‘Guglielmo will commence his rehabilitation with our medical staff immediately, and it is hoped that he could return to action within the next month.’
Inter Milan are closing in on a £17million summer move for Vicario.
