Fraser Forster’s Celtic future may be uncertain but the good news for new manager Ronny Deila is that the goalkeeper is fit and ready to help the club through its first Champions League qualifier. Fresh from his squad role with England at the World Cup in Brazil, Forster met up with his club-mates in Austria last weekend and played in the final match of the tour against Dukla Prague on Friday night. As expected, a small queue of potential suitors are gathering to bid for the 26-year-old, with English Premier League side Southampton at the head of the line. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has vowed to try to hang on to the keeper at least until the qualifiers are done and that means Deila will be able to select him for Tuesday’s tie against FK Reykjavik in Iceland. Having trained at full pelt for most of the summer, Forster has returned fit and ready to play in competitive action. ‘I only really had a week off, so I’ll be able to go straight back into it,’ he confirmed. ‘Conditioning-wise, I’m probably slightly ahead of where I finished last season. With being at the World Cup, I’ve been working throughout the summer and I’m pretty much ready to go.’ The Champions League has been crucial in developing Forster as a keeper, heightening his profile and securing a seat on the plane to Rio de Janeiro. Over and above his personal considerations, it’s also been a huge fillip for Celtic to have made the group stage in consecutive seasons and he knows the importance of helping the club back to the elite. ‘We’ve all seen how big the Champions League nights are and it would be nice to get back in the group stage,’ continued Forster. ‘These qualifiers are tough, though, especially when we’re drawn against teams who are halfway through their season. The manager is trying to implement the way he wants to play the game but it’s important we hit the ground running.’ In breaking Bobby Clark’s 33-year-old shut-out record, Forster’s 13th consecutive clean sheet set a new standard for Scottish league goalkeeping last season. By making it on to the plane for England’s ill-starred adventure in Brazil, he also achieved his main goal set at the start of the campaign. Ever in search of improvement, though, Forster jetted to Austria with barely a rest and declared he has identified a few new targets for the coming year. Ominously for the club’s supporters, there would appear little left for him to achieve in Glasgow. These past four years as a Celtic player have been good for Forster. On loan from Newcastle United for the first two, he experienced the adrenaline rush of Old Firm matches and showed his class in Europa League clashes against Atletico Madrid and Udinese. Having secured a permanent transfer, he landed his second and third Scottish titles, turned in two touchstone performances against Barcelona amid sustained excellence in the Champions League and made his international debut. If he is to dislodge Joe Hart as England’s No 1, it’s not unreasonable to suggest he may look to move on and, with two years remaining on his contract, the time is ripe for the club to realise a sizeable transfer fee. On the day Deila was paraded as Celtic’s new manager, Lawwell recognised the club was vulnerable to bids for Forster and defender Virgil van Dijk. Southampton, under new management in Ronald Koeman, could be first to test the water. The south coast club’s interest is fuelled by the fact they have just recruited Dave Watson, who doubles as England’s goalkeeping coach and helped Roy Hodgson decide to take Forster to Brazil. Atletico had also been monitoring the situation but would appear to be out of the running, having purchased Jan Oblak for £18million from Benfica, but that has opened up a vacancy at the Portuguese champions, who made an enquiry for the Englishman last summer. Forster himself is hesitant and guarded when asked about his immediate future. ‘I’ve still got two years left on my contract,’ he said. ‘I think Virgil has a similar amount of time or a bit longer. We’ve just come back to the team and are taking it day by day, working as hard as we can and trying to prepare for the next game.’ As careful a custodian of Celtic’s finances as Forster is of the goal-frame, Lawwell had helped tee up a contingency plan for the keeper’s exit even before Deila had been appointed as Neil Lennon’s successor. Having honed his fitness over a few weeks training with Rangers, one-time Scotland No 1 Craig Gordon was invited to spend a few days with keeper coach Stevie Woods at Lennoxtown. Woods’ report was glowing and a deal was secured that will give Gordon a chance to resurrect his career after more than two years out with knee trouble. The official script is that the two will now go head to head for the No 1 jersey. Having long since established himself as first choice, Forster is coy on the challenge presented by the new man, who set a British goalkeeping transfer record when he moved between Hearts and Sunderland for £9m in 2007. ‘It will be an interesting one. Obviously I’ve been here four years... it will be good,’ he said. ‘It will benefit all of us, encourage us to work just that bit harder. Everyone around the club knows how ambitious I am and it will be a case of trying to kick on and achieve the goals I’ve set for the season.’ Forster laughs and declines to elaborate on what those new targets might be but is happy to speak of his admiration for Gordon, who quietly settled into the squad during the Austrian trip. Craig is a nice guy who’ll fit in well with the group,’ he added. ‘He’s played 40 times for Scotland and he’s a top keeper. He’s been very unlucky over the last couple of years with his injuries but it’s credit to him that he has worked so hard and got himself back playing again. ‘There would have been days when he maybe wasn’t sure what was going to happen. He would have had to work hard in the gym on his own but it has paid off now he is at Celtic. ‘Having him here will benefit all of us - myself, Lukasz (Zaluska) and Leo (Fasan), whose performances in this pre-season have been brilliant. ‘It will freshen up the goalkeeping group a bit and encourage us to work just that bit harder.’ Looking tanned, relaxed and lean, it’s clear that Forster enjoyed his World Cup adventure. While the tournament was a washout for Hodgson’s men, with elimination confirmed following defeat in the first two group matches against Italy and Uruguay, the scars of the humiliation were never likely to be evident on the squad’s third-choice keeper. As much as he shared the disappointment of Hart and company, Forster could take encouragement just from being there. Being a part of the England squad playing at the World Cup in Brazil was very special and it’s something I’ll look back on when I finish playing - it will be a fantastic memory,’ he said. ‘Obviously it would have been nice to have got a bit further. It was strange because our performances were really good and we didn’t really get what we deserved out of the games. ‘I was delighted to get a bit of playing time and another cap leading up to the tournament. Personally, it was a great experience and I’m sure it will motivate me more. ‘Once you have a taste of tournament football it makes you want to kick on, keep moving forward and be involved at that level again. ‘The Euros are now only a couple of years away, so I’m already setting my sights on that.’ HH -PP-
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 08:36:28 +0000
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