Fraser Forster’s incredible turnaround

In the summer of 2019 Fraser Forster’s career had plunged to the stage that he was third choice goalkeeper at Southampton.

Perhaps Director of Football Ross Wilson was trying to sicken the goalkeeper into walking out on the lucrative contract that the former England keeper had running through until the summer of 2022.

With Scott Bain injured and Neil Lennon unconvinced by Craig Gordon there was a need for a new goalkeeper at Celtic as the transfer window came to a close after a disastrous Champions League defeat from Cluj.

Lennon opted to go for Forster, he had signed him three times before and surely couldn’t have lost it all as his Southampton status suggested. It worked.

In his fourth Celtic debut Forster saved a penalty against Hearts although the rebound was converted. A week later Celtic won 2-0 at Ibrox, Forster’s presence spread confidence through a new look defence that consisted of Hatem Abd Elhamed, Nir Bitton, Chris Jullien and Boli Blingoli.

Back in a #ThreeLions squad for the first time since October 2017.

Welcome back, Fraser Forster! ?

— England (@England) March 23, 2022

Forster kept another clean sheet against Steven Gerrard’s mob in December when Celtic won the League Cup Final, that was on the back of two outstanding performances against Lazio in the Europa League.

When the Celtic players reported back for early pre-season training in June following Lockdown 1 Forster was still on board but at some stage in the close season a further loan deal fell through for unknown reasons. Perhaps Peter Lawwell had tried to cut the deal a little too fine for Forster or Southampton’s liking.

Pistol Pete had a Plan B lined up in the shape of Vasilis Barkas, £4m and a four year contract felt like good business while Forster returned to his previous status at Southampton, that was the theory.

This week Barkas is apparently looking to leave Celtic, finding a club to match his Celtic salary won’t be easy.

Meanwhile Forster is back in the England squad, with his contract expiring at the end of this season the timing could hardly be better as he prepares to sift through the offers of where to play his football next season.