Man Utd Put Ben Foster Up For Sale

To be fair, with the way Van der Sar has been playing, you'd have to be a truly world class keeper to be starting ahead of him. That's decent money for a keeper we picked up from the lower leagues
 
£6 millioner for our third-keeper who hardly gets a game - you cant turn down an offer like that
 
Foster set for £6m Birmingham switch

May 10, 2010


Goalkeeper Ben Foster is set to make a permanent switch to Birmingham.

United are believed to have accepted a £6m bid for the 27-year-old.

It will end a difficult period for the England international, who failed to take the chance to be the Reds’ first choice.

Foster made several high profile blunders when he deputised for Edwin van der Sar and the Dutch veteran reclaimed his place once he had recovered from injury.

He also slipped behind Tomasz Kuszczak in the Old Trafford pecking order and his lack of action means he is almost certain to miss out on going to South Africa for the World Cup with England despite starting the season as Fabio Capello’s No. 1.

Foster hinted last week in the M.E.N. that his days at the club may be numbered.

“I want to be playing football. I am not interested in just hanging around and I would go if the club wanted to sell me,” he said.

“If they are happy to accept a bid then you have to read between the lines and realise you are not really needed and move on. It would not be the end of the world for me.”

The move would seem to indicate that Joe Hart is set to remain at Manchester City after a hugely successful spell on loan at St Andrews.

It will also increase the speculation over who Sir Alex Ferguson will want as a long-term replacement for Van der Sar, who turns 40 in October.

Lyon’s Hugo Lloris, CSKA Moscow’s Igor Akinfeev and Gigi Buffon of Juventus have all been linked with a move to United.



Source : Foster set for £6m Birmingham switch - Manchester Evening News
 
Good luck to him, not good enough to make it here.
 
Good luck to him, 6Mil is a decent price for him and I'm sure with less pressure at Birmingham, he will prove to be a good signing for them.
 
Karan Mittal said:
Good luck to him, 6Mil is a decent price for him and I'm sure with less pressure at Birmingham, he will prove to be a good signing for them.
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Reminds me of Howard, who has done really well at Everton. Hope Foster gets back into the England squad, and you've got to give credit to McCleish. He's building a good squad there
 
Crustanoid said:
Reminds me of Howard, who has done really well at Everton. Hope Foster gets back into the England squad, and you've got to give credit to McCleish. He's building a good squad there
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He was excellent for Watford when he was on loan there, I remember his kicking used to be awesome than. Don't know what happened here at United, but think he is gonna be a very good signing for them.
 
Crustanoid said:
Reminds me of Howard, who has done really well at Everton. Hope Foster gets back into the England squad, and you've got to give credit to McCleish. He's building a good squad there
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McLeish is doing a great job, and has built a good team with a good defence. Can see Foster doing well there, and best wishes to him. Plus £6m is a good price (well, from our point of view at least).
 
From United's imminent no 1 keeper to Birmingham present keeper. Well done Ben. ;):p

He will do well at Birmingham. I have faith in you ben.
 
i think he ll be a success at birmingham.

let's be honest, it's very difficult for a goalkeeper to establish himself at united. After schmeichel left, we had Barthez, Bosnich, Taibi, Howard, which all were good goalkeepers (worldclass in Barthez case) and still they failed.

I think the main problem is concentration - a keeper at MU spends lot of time watching the game like the rest of us, then all of a sudden he is called back in action. maybe that's why someone like VDS managed to settle in, he maybe a little bit less mobile than other keepers but he learned to concentrate for 90 mins..
 
We need another goalie IMO now that Ben is all but gone. I don't want a situation where VDS leaves next summer and we are looking for goalies. The ideal would be to get someone in now who is good enough to replace VDS and keep the continuity. Hopefully we have learned from the Schmeichel departure.
 
dan_alex said:
Foster set for £6m Birmingham switch

May 10, 2010


Goalkeeper Ben Foster is set to make a permanent switch to Birmingham.

United are believed to have accepted a £6m bid for the 27-year-old.

It will end a difficult period for the England international, who failed to take the chance to be the Reds’ first choice.

Foster made several high profile blunders when he deputised for Edwin van der Sar and the Dutch veteran reclaimed his place once he had recovered from injury.

He also slipped behind Tomasz Kuszczak in the Old Trafford pecking order and his lack of action means he is almost certain to miss out on going to South Africa for the World Cup with England despite starting the season as Fabio Capello’s No. 1.

Foster hinted last week in the M.E.N. that his days at the club may be numbered.

“I want to be playing football. I am not interested in just hanging around and I would go if the club wanted to sell me,” he said.

“If they are happy to accept a bid then you have to read between the lines and realise you are not really needed and move on. It would not be the end of the world for me.”

The move would seem to indicate that Joe Hart is set to remain at Manchester City after a hugely successful spell on loan at St Andrews.

It will also increase the speculation over who Sir Alex Ferguson will want as a long-term replacement for Van der Sar, who turns 40 in October.

Lyon’s Hugo Lloris, CSKA Moscow’s Igor Akinfeev and Gigi Buffon of Juventus have all been linked with a move to United.



Source : Foster set for £6m Birmingham switch - Manchester Evening News
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Excellent, if true.
 
Pity to see him leave. I still think he's got he attributes to be a really good 'keeper, just doesn't seem to have the mentality to make it at United. I agree with those that said he'll probably be another Howard, going on to be a great 'keeper for a smaller club.

I do wonder what's next for us in terms of goalkeepers if this deal goes through though, do we sign a big name to compete with - and eventually replace - Van Der Sar now, and probably risk losing Kuszczak? Or do we promote Amos for this season to third choice, which would also give us an extra spot in our 25 man squad, due to his age, and risk a post-Schmeichel like situation again?
 
Karan Mittal said:
He was excellent for Watford when he was on loan there, I remember his kicking used to be awesome than. Don't know what happened here at United, but think he is gonna be a very good signing for them.
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Are you aware of his cockups during his time at Watford?? He's never 100% reliable and tend to lose concentration, flap at crosses or miskick backpasses once every few games for both Watford and us.
 
I suspect he'll be a much better keeper at Birmingham. 6mil is fair money, so all the best to him.
 
SittingBull said:
Are you aware of his cockups during his time at Watford?? He's never 100% reliable and tend to lose concentration, flap at crosses or miskick backpasses once every few games for both Watford and us.
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I didn't see him play at Championship level but yes I saw him play at Watford in Premiership. He was terrific for them, I was at the watford's forum to check on Cleverley and many of them rate Foster as one of the best loan signings.

Here's a watford's fan perspective on Foster when he was about to make his United debut.
So Ben Foster has finally played as many games for Manchester United as he has for England. United fans might not know too much about him (apart from his debut against Derby) so I thought I’d let you know what to expect.

As a Watford fan I would say that Ben Foster is somewhere between God and Gandhi in relation to his importance in the history of the world. For two seasons at Vicarage Road he performed like no other keeper I have ever seen on the hallowed turf. We’ve had some good keepers down at Watford including the young David James and United’s own goalkeeping coach Tony Coton, but nobody came near to this exceptional young number one.

Standing at over 6’2†the 24 year-old keeper arrived on loan from United at the start of the 2005-06 season as a 21 year-old. Watford were tipped by everyone for relegation, and the signing of a young inexperienced goalkeeper with a handful of first team games for Wrexham did little to lift the atmosphere of pessimism.

In truth, in the first few games he played for The Hornets, Foster did not look too sure of himself. The fans were wondering why Aidy Boothroyd had brought him in. Gradually, over a period of a dozen games Foster won the crowd over with a series of excellent performances. His agility and shot stopping was second to none and his success ratio in one on one situations must have been close to that of Peter Schmeichel.

That season, against all the odds Watford found themselves promoted to the Premiership. Marlon King took all the plaudits for his goalscoring exploits, but Watford fans knew the success owed at least as much to the brilliance of Foster.

In the Premiership Watford struggled and finished bottom of the league. We were rarely beaten by a big score and twice that we conceded four times was against United, against whom Foster was not allowed to play. He was voted as Watford fans player of the season with an enormous percentage of the votes.

Despite what he showed at Derby on Saturday, another hugely impressive aspect of his performances at Watford was his quick, long and accurate distribution. Although it may be fair to say that United aren’t quite as direct as Watford (!) this aspect of his game could add another dimension to United’s attacking play.

Prior to his unfortunate knee injury in the summer I was certain that Foster would be challenging for the number one jersey at Old Trafford this season. I was also convinced that he would make the England shirt his own. Oh for Ben Foster against Croatia.

There is no doubt that Foster will prove, as long as he fully recovers from his injury, that he is the best young goalkeeper in England by a country mile. Scott Carson, Joe Hart, Chris Kirkland, all decent keepers but Ben Foster is in another league.

Fergie spotted his potential whilst on loan at Wrexham from Stoke City. He was presumably alerted by Darren who was at Wrexham at the time. United signed him without Foster having played a first team game at Stoke. After just one pre-season friendly appearance for United reserves he was loaned out to Watford. The rest, as they say, is history.

The news had just broken that Sir Alex was prepared to let Foster go back out on loan after he recovered from his injury. With Watford struggling away for promotion I was very excited. Then Van Der Sar gets injured and Kuszczak, who is nowhere near as good as Foster, got himself sent off and the dream of Ben Foster back in the Hornets goal was gone.

Having read through this article I wondered whether I might have gone over the top with my praise. Believe me, I haven’t. He is that good.

If he plays as I know he can, you United fans are in for a treat.
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It would be great money to get for him. A lot of goalkeepers have the talent, but only few have the mental strength needed to play for a club like United. He hasn't got it, at least not yet, and we just don't have the time to wait and hope.
 
Amir said:
Not if he's happy playing second fiddle. He's done better than Foster this season so from United's point of view, if we can keep one - it's him.
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He's not. Came out and said he's done being the number 2 way before Foster spoke about his future last week. PIG is either our new number 1 or he's even more likely to be gone than Foster.
 
Nate Dogg said:
Rather than Foster.

I'm under the impression that Foster can become good and become England's number 1, whereas PIG is simply (IMHO) is at best average.
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Definitely better than Foster. And what's England got to do with United?
 
Good luck to Foster, if he gets his head straight.. he can end up like David James.
 
Ekeke said:
He's not. Came out and said he's done being the number 2 way before Foster spoke about his future last week. PIG is either our new number 1 or he's even more likely to be gone than Foster.
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PIG is not our new number 1. As long as Edwin is around, he's clearly better, and even if he's gone PIG will not be enough.

A year ago PIG also spoke of his unhappiness and we thought he was off, but he stayed. So I'm not so certain this time around.
 
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