This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

This news will please England fans – if Foster has a good year at Birmingham in the upcoming season I don’t see any problems in him becoming Englands number one GK.

Birmingham have signed goalkeeper Ben Foster from Manchester United on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The 27-year-old England international fills the gap left by Joe Hart’s return to Manchester City after a loan spell.

Full details after the jump.

Source: BBC Football

Blues boss Alex McLeish told the club’s website: “We’ve signed another young hungry goalkeeper who wants to prove himself and live up to his potential.”

Foster joined United from Stoke in 2005 and signed an improved four-year contract at Old Trafford in July 2009.

He began last season as United’s first choice but errors in the Community Shield against Chelsea as well as the Manchester derby cost him his place.

The Leamington Spa-born shot-stopper played for England as recently as November, against Brazil, but a lack of regular club football saw him dropped and as a result he missed out on a place in the World Cup squad – which includes his Birmingham predecessor Hart.

Foster has won four England caps and played only nine times for United in the last campaign with Dutch veteran Edwin van der Sar the preferred number one at Old Trafford.

McLeish added: “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 for ever 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.

“The goalkeeper is a massive position. It looks as if we’ve got another great acquisition with Ben Foster. We believe he is of the same kind of standard as Joe Hart.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson revealed England Under-21 keeper Ben Amos would be promoted to his first-team squad for next season as back-up to Van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak.

“He will now be our third goalkeeper, he’s very talented and has a good future ahead of him,” Ferguson said.

Birmingham finished a highly respectable ninth in the Premier League last season.

Archived: Birmingham Sign Foster - archived
Tagged on:                             

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *