With most West Brom fans instantly dismissing speculation linking former England goalkeeper Ben Foster with a switch to Watford and Vicarage Road based on his own words in recent times about being settled in the area and not wanting to uproot his family or children, sadly it appears there is more to the story than originally thought.
Least that’s a safe educated guess given Foster joined Craig Dawson in not travelling to Portugal for our training camp. Some speculation suggested their responses was in relation to the club playing hardball over the interest in them.
Either way, it’s not exactly pretty and relationships have already soured.
I know the lead piece is from the Mirror so naturally it should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, but if Watford did open bidding for Foster at £1million I can certainly see why there would be anger within the club. Especially with what has now transpired in terms of the 35-year-old appearing to throw his toys.
It’s fair to say though we don’t have the full story from either side.
Foster has two years left on his existing deal and the report claims we have now dug our heels in based on their opening offer and have countered without valuation which is believed to be the £10-12million mark.
I can understand West Brom reaction to such a pathetic bid, and even allowing for the Mirror here, if we’re actually holding out for £10-12million this is just going to get uglier. Based on Foster’s previous behaviour across his career and at West Brom, it could also explain his response to things.
We certainly shouldn’t be letting people go for less than their worth – and that applies to Dawson and others just as much – but in the current market Foster can only be seen as a £5-6million valuation in reality and that would represent a good return in my opinion.
It would also save this issue becoming a major distraction when surely we should be concentrating our efforts elsewhere.
