Scottish Premiership champions Celtic arguably need a new goalkeeper but could they turn to Southampton’s Premier League outcast Fraser Forster.
Charlie Nicholas wants Celtic to bring Fraser Forster back to Glasgow as his Southampton omission shows no signs of coming to an end, speaking to the Daily Star (13 August, page 36).
It has been a long time since the 31-year-old was starring between the sticks for Celtic. In fact, it’s a long time since he was playing regular football full stop.
Forster has featured just once in the Premier League since a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur on Boxing Day 2017 and now finds himself well down the pecking order at St Mary’s, behind Angus Gunn and Alex McCarthy.
With the English transfer window shut, Forster now finds himself stuck in the stands with no way back as long as Ralph Hasenhuttl remains at the helm. Unless, of course, Celtic make a shock move to bring the three-time Scottish Premiership champion back to Glasgow.
“Neil Lennon needs to make a goalkeeper his number one signing priority. If I were the Celtic manager, I would be doing all I could to get Fraser Forster back to the club,” said former Hoops forward Nicholas, who would turn to the always reliable Aberdeen stopper Joe Lewis if a deal for Forster proved impossible.
“Celtic need more of a presence between the sticks and Forster, for me, is perfect. The only issue for me would be the finances and whether Celtic would want to do things on a budget.
“If that is the case, then the likes of Joe Lewis would come into the equation.”
Six-time England international Forster joined Celtic for £2 million in in the summer of 2012 after an initial loan spell at Newcastle United (BBC) and, even seven years on, the experienced ‘keeper could still look a cut above in Scottish football.
Particularly with doubts persisting about whether Scott Bain, who looked unconvincing in Saturday’s 5-2 win against Motherwell, is of the required standard for a club with Celtic’s lofty ambitions.
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