Fraser Forster what's the score?
The keeper has been on loan at Celtic for each of the last two season’s but on neither occasion has he taken part in pre-season training or been available for the first competitive games of the season.
Few things are straight forward in the modern game but how difficult is it really to work out whether or not he will sign for us?
Either he wants to join Celtic and signs or he doesn’t and leaves. On the reports that I have read so far, his manager at Newcastle has been quoted as saying “At the moment, he is coming back to us,” followed by: “He will be with us until he finds a club and we find a fee that works for us”
That alone means that they would have to agree a fee with a potential new club then the player has to agree a deal with them. Given that part of his loan deal with us gave us the first option to buy him for £2m then we must assume that it’s the player who doesn’t want to sign as opposed to his club preventing it from happening.
Or perhaps, someone at Newcastle is trying to talk him out of a move to us so that they can gain more cash from him? I don’t know if that’s the case but if it is, then Fraser should be man enough to make the decision for himself. If not, then he’s not the kind of person we need at the club.
With Forster, it’s been a bit of a love/apathy relationship between him and our fans. At the start, myself and quite a few other fans were not convinced at all by him. Was he good enough to be our number one? Was he any better than our back ups Lucas Zaluska or Dominic Cervi?
Another Celtic website one described him as being like a ‘stoned giraffe’. Regardless of how much that was meant as a joke, it did sum up how some felt about him in the early days.
Move on to last season just to see how far he has come, my main memory is the penalty v Hearts that he saved. That was the match we were 1-0 up in and for reasons best be known to himself Calum Murray gave a very late penalty.
Was he going to be anywhere near as good as the Holy Goalie, Artur Boruc? For a guy of his age, it was always going to be a tough job for him but at the end of the day, if a player is good enough, they are old enough. Look at Victor Wanyama, he’s a similar age and walked in and looked good from the start.
I’ve said in the past that I don’t believe anyone is bigger than the club. At 6ft 7 Forster could physically be close to the size of the south stand but ultimately, we have had better keepers over the years and probably will have better keepers in the future.
So, if he does move away from Celtic, what do we lose out on? We lose out on a keeper who had 91 first team appearances and 50 clean sheets.
What should Celtic do with him next? At the end of the day, if a player doesn’t want to sign, then we can hardly force him to do so. Should we offer him a contract based on clean sheets and then insert say a £5m sell on clause, allowing him to move on and take a big bank balance with him?
Or should we say that he’s taking way to long and withdraw the contract offer?
One thing that remains is that we do need to get a goalkeeper. Cervi left us so Zaluska is the only keeper on the books with first team experience. Given the calibre of player that Neil Lennon has brought in, I would have to assume that he is very much aware of who we need to bring in and I also suspect that he will have a few targets in mind.
Overall, I think if he stays, then it’s a good thing but not really a disaster if he were to leave. Some supporters have said they would like to see Boruc back at the club, I’m really unsure on that.
Would he still be the same keeper or should we go for someone who fits in to the type of player that we have being buying recently, a younger guy who can be part of a long term plan?
CLICK HERE for Green promises not to walk away
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