New Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was signed after chairman Daniel Levy headed up a two-day negotiation with the player's former club Slavia Prague in the Czech capital.
Levy and Spurs technical director Johan Lange spent two days in Prague as they organised the final details of Kinsky’s move to Tottenham in a deal worth £12.5million plus add-ons.
A goalkeeping crisis at Tottenham saw Brandon Austin thrust into the starting line-up for Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle after Fraser Forster fell ill on the eve of the game.
Forster had been deputising since November for the injured first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Kinsky received his work permit in time to be involved, if called upon, in Tottenham’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg tie against Liverpool on Wednesday.
Speaking to Flashscore, Viktor Kolar, Kinsky’s agent, said: “Our team was still sitting at a petrol station in Prague until almost 10pm of December 31, because everything was closed on New Year's Eve.
“The subsequent development was that on January 1, Daniel Levy flew in himself and the two-day negotiations in Prague began. He had Johan Lange with him.
“The negotiations were intense, stretching late into the night. But it worked, and I’m happy about that. It was a beautiful test to see if people and organizations this dominant can find their way to each other.”
