Celtic snap up Newcastle United goalkeeper
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has made his 10th signing of the summer after bringing in Fraser Forster on a season-long loan. The Newcastle United goalkeeper joined up with his new team-mates for training at Lennoxtown for the first time Tuesday.
Forster was at Celtic Park on Sunday to see the Scottish Premier League giants thump St Mirren 4-0 and joins Lukasz Zaluska and Dominic Cervi as the club’s first-team goalkeepers.
'Highly recommended'
After the St. Mirren game, Lennon told reporters that: “He's a big boy, he's come highly recommended, I've watched him myself a couple of times. His age, 22, is the only thing going against him because otherwise he has all the qualities you look for in a goalkeeper. He's got a massive presence and he's come highly recommended from people in the game whose opinion I trust. We've needed competition in that area so he'll add to that.”
Lennon has been trying to sign a goalkeeper to challenge Zaluska between the sticks after losing Artur Boruc to Fiorentina earlier in the summer. He had attempted to sign David James, who played for England at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but the player instead decided to join Bristol City to be closer to his family. Lennon was also linked with a move for Manchester City’s Shay Given, but that also failed to materialise.
Player of the year
Forster was on loan at Norwich City last season, where he helped the club gain promotion to the Football League Championship and was voted his fellow footballers’ Player of the Year. Norwich boss had hoped to take the youngster back on loan this season but was priced out of a move. Burnley had also made a move for him in July, but English Premier League outfit Newcastle were reluctant to let him leave then.
The player has yet to feature in a first-team game for Newcastle and is manager Chris Hughton third-choice after Steve Harper and Tim Krul.
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