When England play against the USA on the first Saturday of the World Cup, Ben Foster will be sat at home wondering what might have been. This time last year, he would have been forgiven for expecting to make the trip to South Africa. Instead, he will probably find himself spending most of June and July house-hunting. The last of his four international caps arrived against Brazil in the friendly in Qatar in November, after which a nosedive in form saw him swiftly relegated to third-choice at Manchester United.
In a bid to revive his stalled career, Foster made a £6 million (Dh32m) switch to Birmingham City at the end of the season. According to Tony Coton, the former United goalkeeping coach who mentored Foster in his early years at the club, the 27-year-old needed to get out of Old Trafford. "He has got everything, apart from the game time he was expecting to get," said Coton, whose input was sought before Alex McLeish would part with the transfer fee.
"The Birmingham staff, who I know very well - in particular their goalkeeping coach, Dave Watson, who is a very good coach - rang me to ask me about Ben. "When you are signing a player who you don't know, you want to find out all you can about his character, his work ethic, and things like that. "I told them he had to get away from Man United to a club where the people have faith in him and trust him. Once they do that, they will have a top, top-class keeper."
Birmingham yesterday finalised the signing of the World Cup-bound Nikola Zigic, one of the tallest professional footballers, on a four-year contract from the Spanish side Valencia. Zigic, the Serbia striker, 29, who stands at two metres, had a medical yesterday and is thought to have cost Birmingham around £6m. Zigic, who will lead the line for his country at the World Cup, made his name with Red Star Belgrade where he netted 71 goals in 110 games and was named Serbia's Player of the Year in 2003, 2005 and 2006. @Email:pradley@thenational.ae
