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發表於 2010-5-20 12:31:02
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Birmingham seal signing of Ben Foster
Birmingham City have announced the signing of goalkeeper Ben Foster after he was allowed to leave Manchester United having failed to secure a regular place at Old Trafford.
Foster joins Birmingham on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee and replaces Joe Hart, who has returned to Manchester City having spent a very successful loan spell at St Andrews last season.
An injury to Edwin van der Sar handed Foster a chance to impress for United at the start of the 2009-10 campaign but he committed a series of mistakes, eventually falling behind Tomasz Kuszczak in SirAlex Ferguson's plans.
Ferguson always maintained that Foster would be a future England No. 1, and although he has four international caps, his slump in stature at United saw him miss out on a place inFabio Capello's World Cup squad.
Hart will travel to South Africa after a brilliant season though, and Foster will no doubt hope a move to Birmingham will have a similar impact on his own career.
Foster joined United in a £1 million deal from Stoke in July 2005 and made 29 league appearances under Ferguson. It is reported that Birmingham have paid £6 million for the 27-year-old.
"It looks as if we've got another great acquisition with Ben Foster,'' said Blues boss Alex McLeish. "The goalkeeper is a massive position and we've now signed another young hungry goalkeeper who wants to prove himself and live up to his potential.
"We believe he is of the same kind of standard as Joe Hart. Ben's situation is similar to Joe's in that he found himself twiddling his thumbs behind another top keeper in Van der Saar. Goalkeepers can go on forever so that one was a losing battle for Ben.
"Ben is ambitious and wants to play regular football and naturally doesn't want to play second fiddle.''
McLeish said Birmingham's goalkeeping coach Dave Watson had highlighted Foster as a good replacement for Hart some time ago.
"We were looking at it even when Joe was here in the event that we wouldn't be caught short and to steal a march on other potential suitors,'' the manager told the club's official website. "There were another 10 or 12 foreign goalkeepers we looked at but didn't know enough about then and we didn't want to take a risk.
"But Dave Watson is a guy I trust and have given responsibility to and he did his homework on Ben. He knows everything about him, although ultimately it's my decision to choose the players and the goalkeeper. With due diligence we've done together we know that he's a very capable player.
"We think he can make a name for himself and it's up to him to do what Big Joe did.'' |
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