Probably ******** but apparently Chelsea want him https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...news-Ben-Foster-Kepa-replacement-Everton-keen would rather we kept him
Does he want one last pay day and his career on the bench or stay with us where he will be first choice ?
No kidding. QSF is hopelessly limited. I'm not sure whether the most baffling part of last season was the club reappointing him, or the fans who had wanted him to come back!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...rmer-Manchester-United-keeper-Ben-Foster.html Linked with City as backup fro Ederson. Can't see him being bothered about being backup for a big club at this stage in his career unless he wants to be nearer home. May even want to stay at EFL level if it means they will allow him to film games for his channel as surely the PL don't allow it and will be far stronger than the Football League have been on the issue. WBA sell Sam Johnstone who will want to stay in England reckoning and Foster returns to WBA?
It depends on whether he gets the number one shirt back at Watford. If Bachmann is now number one, then he may as well sign for City. However, I did hear him say that he wouldn't be a number two anywhere, so he may give up the game completely. He's now 38 after all.
I suspect in his last year, he would settle for being No.2 here. But I really don't see him moving anywhere to find the same set of circumstances.
I reckon the Man City deal would suit all parties. I bet he’s one of our higher earners and I doubt he’ll want to sit on the bench here for a season, in what is almost certainly going to be a relegation battle. The backup role at City is quite high profile - quite a lot of cup games, so he could actually win something else before retirement. Can also see the sense in the WBA option too.
He's backup here tbf, if I were him, even as a Watford fan, I'd be tempted to sit on a big team's bench for twice the money!
Twice the money, higher profile Club, would put in in the limelight for future coaching jobs and also we would be due a fee!
I wouldn't be surprised if we sign a new number one, pushing Bachmann into the backup keeper role and allow Foster to leave. If he wants regular first team football for another season he'll end up in League 1 or 2.
Been linked with Karl Darlow, and we also have Dahlberg on the books, so I doubt Foster will work his way back into first team contention
He won’t be a back up, because Bachmann is not good enough to be first choice at Premier League level. If we don’t sign a new keeper I expect he will be back as first choice.
Why not? It's going to be Fosters last year with us. He'd have a few opportunities to make the no. 1 spot his at some point.
The Foster of last season, no, but he's on the slide, started off this season with some eye-catching performances, but I think father time is catching up on him by now
To be fair Bachmann has spoken of his frustration at how long it took for him to be given a run of games - and how we was disappointed to be denied a move when Foster was clearly first choice. I think if we knocked him back down to 2nd choice now, he’d definitely seek a move. Let’s not forget Dahlberg too who was supposedly very good out on loan. If money for transfers is at a premium, given we have a lot of areas that need improving, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we stick with the 3 GK’s we already own next season. Get Parkes out on loan and Rob Elliott can either leave or be 4th choice.
I think GKs are the least of our worries to be honest. Doubt we'll see any I comings in that position.
Maybe. Haven't seen much evidence of this yet, though. The mistakes he has made were to do with lack of concentration, rather than declining ability. He clearly keeps himself in shape, through his cycling etc. Reckon we can get another good year out of him yet! Darlow has always seemed mediocre, but haven't seen him play for a few years, so maybe he's improved?
Supposedly been very good this season and were mentions of an England call-up...not that getting selected for England in that area means a great deal right now. I’d still be surprised if we spent money in this area without selling first.
Pretty bog standard at this club though, isn't it? Probability says that the players will down tools under Xisco at some point.
Ben did nothing wrong other than get injured, and although Bachmann has done a good job of deputising for Ben, IMO he has not done enough to replace him as our PL keeper. Therefore, I would prefer that Ben is back between the sticks at the start of next season because he has been there done it and for me is still good enough to be a PL keeper. IMO the only reason that he might not be our No1 GK next season is if a real top quality proven keeper is brought in to replace him.
I think part of Foster's spectacular looking form last season and this was in part because his reaction time has dulled and his starting position isn't always the best, meaning when he makes saves they look spectacular when a different keeper wouldn't have needed to make it look so spectacular
Foster is an astonishingly good keeper at this level and probably still at Prem level. He is a match winning keeper and when we were poor under Ivic he was a key factor in us squeaking out points. If he’s not going to be number one here, another team would be mad not to want him. He would still be our number one but for an injury and it’s farcical to suggest Bachmann is better than him.
2019/20 Foster is better than Bachmann. 2020/21 Foster is a different discussion. Towards the back end of last season and the beginning of this, we conceded 10+ goals where I think he should have at least got close, but his reactions/positioning were poor so got nowhere near it. Reminded me of Fraser Forster, who struggles massively with powerful low shots, as we proved against Southampton a few years back. I'd say Bachmann and Foster are about level in terms of ability now, and both with make mistakes in the PL. Difference is though Foster won't be getting any better now, but Bachmann is approaching his prime years as a GK, so could still improve. However, I wouldn't say no to a top class keeper, if one became available.
What I'd say about Bachmann is that, while his shot-stopping hasn't been seriously tested too often, and while his ability from crosses is a work in progress, he is better with his feet than Foster, and that has helped us to take the pressure off when maybe Foster would have shanked a ball into touch or given the ball away. For what we need in the Prem, I'm not sure Bachmann is up to it (although you'd guess there'd be less teams getting it into the mixer than in the Championship), although I'm not sure Foster is up to it anymore as his performances have dipped this season, in all fairness I'd have Darlow over both of them
Foster is thinking about his next role after football and that will play a big part in where he'll be next season. If Pep was happy to have a back up keeper who is a liability with the ball at his feet and spends half his time gooning around on YouTube showing some of the inner workings of the club, I'm sure he'd go there as his audience would probably go up tenfold. If not, he'll stay with us and compete for number one rather than dropping back down for another 46 game Championship season as his audience will still increase with some behind the scenes footage at Premier League grounds. He's obviously decided that he wants to monetise YouTube as he leaves football so needs to think about the best way of doing that. His final season as a footballer is his big chance to grow his following.
