Marcus Bettinelli has three weeks to make the Fulham keeper’s jersey his own.
After that, his boss will go shopping for an experienced custodian to replace wantaway Maarten Stekelenburg.
The Dutch international has been no part of the Whites pre-season preparation, and has set his agent the task of finding him a new club.
It leaves 22-year-old Bettinelli, or former Maidenhead United keeper Jesse Joronen, fighting for a place between the sticks.
The former’s league experience has been limited to 39 loan appearances at Accrington Stanley, but chances are Bettinelli will step out in front of 12 times Stanley’s average gate at Ipswich later today.
As he ran the rule over his players at an open training session this week, Felix Magath is hoping his choice will save him money.
“I rely on the youth,” the manager said: “Now we have young keepers and I feel good. I will give them the chance now and if it doesn’t work we have three weeks where we can go to the market and sign an experienced player.
“You always have a risk but you need the philosophy, not the risk. If you are afraid, you will not be successful, only hiding and trying to avoid mistakes. That’s what happened here last year.”
