Alex McLeish, the Birmingham City manager, hopes Ben Foster, the goalkeeper he signed from Manchester United yesterday, can resurrect his career with a fresh start at St Andrews. The England international has agreed to a three-year contract after moving for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £6 million (Dh31.5m). McLeish admitted Foster presented a better option than up to a dozen foreign goalkeepers, who he admitted were "a risk".
Foster, 27, found opportunities at Old Trafford limited and he dropped down the pecking order behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak after a number of unconvincing displays. He made just nine Premier League starts for United and his last first-team appearance came on February 23 against West Ham. "It looks as if we've got another great acquisition," said McLeish. "The goalkeeper is a massive position and we've now signed another young hungry goalkeeper who wants to prove himself and live up to his potential.
"He found himself twiddling his thumbs at United behind another top keeper in Van der Saar. Goalkeepers can go on forever so that one was a losing battle for Ben. "Ben is ambitious and wants to play regular football and doesn't want to play second fiddle. "There were another 10 or 12 foreign goalkeepers we looked at but didn't know enough about them and we didn't want to take a risk." * PA
