MEL HAILS FOSTER

New West Brom manager Pepe Mel has said that his goalkeeper Ben Foster should be considered for international duty by manager Roy Hodgson. Foster was once regarded as the next England number one when he was at Manchester United, but the failure to dislodge Edwin van Der Sar resulted in him losing this status. He has since slipped down the radar in the last few years, but he has been doing extremely well with West Brom this campaign. Pepe Mel has been seeing the 30-year-old only for the last few weeks after recently taking over from Steve Clarke.

However, he has seen enough from the former United player (who was made famous by some man utd art) to suggest that he will be a good option to replace Joe Hart, who has been troubled by poor form this campaign. The race to get into the England squad is well underway with the World Cup only a few months away. Mel has suggested that Foster should be the number one for England on the basis of current form. West Brom have not won a single match since the start of January, but it has not been down to the poor performance of Foster.

Foster is just one of the keepers competing for the number one position. Stoke city’s youngster Jack Butland is also thought to be in contention for this position.

“Ben Foster for me is the best goalkeeper in England. In football, the goalkeeper is very important. I always have full confidence in Ben that he will have no problem. The goalkeeper at Manchester City is also very good, but for me Foster is the best,” said Mel. “We’re going to have a look at the options but it will have to be right for Jack and right for us. It’s important for him in terms of his development,” said Stoke City manager Mark Hughes regarding Jack Butland.