It would seem that Newcastle’s 23 year old 6’7″ goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who was born in Hexham, is in great demand these days.
Fraser Forster – top goalkeeper in the making
Fraser has played 32 times at Celtic this season, and has again done very well following his very successful loan spell last season at Norwich, where he played 42 times.
But Alan Pardew is very keen to take a closer look at the big keeper, and has today said he will not accept a £2M offer for Forster in the summer from Celtic.
Some of Fraser’s recent interviews may have suggested that he was even keen to sign on with the Glasgow giants, who were the first British football side to win the European Cup back in 1967, one year before Manchester United won it for the first time.
The bias of the English press was in full swing then, because Celtic’s win was reported in England as a great triumph for British club football, and Manchester United’s win was a great triumph for English football.
😀
Celtic are keen to sign Forster on a permanent basis, and would pay add-ons to a £2M up front payment, but it seems that Newcatsle are not interested in doing that.
Alan Pardew says Fraser is looking forward to the pre-season at Newcastle:
“The last time I spoke to Fraser Forster I made it clear he would be coming back here in pre-season to fight for the first team jersey.”
“I will not accept a £2M bid from Celtic. I do not want to bring a new keeper in because I expect the three we have got to start pre-season.”
Steve Harper has said recently he sees himself playing just two more seasons at Newcastle so Pardew will want to hang onto both young goalkeepers, Forster and Dutch U21 goalkeeper Tim Krul, for at least that time frame, although Pardew did say he would let one of them leave Newcastle in the summer, but we suspect that is on a loan deal again.
And it’s been a surprise that Forster has not been awarded an England U21 cap, on top of his performances over the last two years, and Pardew talked about that:
“He is eligible for the Under-21s, but whether he should be in the squad is a question I cannot really answer. I have an opinion and perhaps he should be around that team.”
Pre-season will be exciting for Newcastle fans, because of the many new players expected to be drafted into the squad, but it will also be good for fans to take a look at Forster.
The lad who has only just turned 23, seems to have improved a lot over these last couple of seasons, and it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that he could be the Newcastle number one goalkeeper next season.
Unlikely but possible.
And if and when he ever leaves his home town club, Fraser will be going for a lot more than the £2M Celtic will offer this summer.
Comments welcome.
6 comments so far
lewman
Apr 1, 2011 at 10:05 AM
Comment #1the good thing about this offer is that they will not come in with a much higher one as the spl isnt the richest of leagues so he should still be here next season
john DSOUZA
Apr 1, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Comment #2Dnt want him to leav mayb we could loan him to celtic for 2yrs
veto
Apr 1, 2011 at 10:22 AM
Comment #3that’s the thing about returning the loyalty harper has showed , it will hold back two keepers who have international promise
Shot Bru
Apr 1, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Comment #4Swap him for Izaguirre…Forster doesn’t want to play for us so there’s no point keeping him…He is no better than waht we already have. I do think we will need to buy a class keeper sooner or later as Harper is starting to slow up in his decision making. While Krul and Forster have shown some promise, they don’t inspire confidence in nthe defence.
Stuart
Apr 1, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Comment #5SHot Bru,
Of course Forster wants to play for us, hes a relatively local lad and we’re his team.
He just doesnt want to be sitting on the bench as Harpers number 2 all season.
The right thing to do would be to either take a look at him in the pre season and see if hes ready to be our number 1 or if not loan him out again to get more first team experience.
ToonMatt
Apr 1, 2011 at 4:54 PM
Comment #6Fatty will sell him at the end of the day, Its all about the money.