Celtic manager Neil Lennon has touched on whether signing Fraser Forster to Parkhead will be possible.
The England international has been reviving his career in Scotland this season. Ever since Celtic knocked AIK out of the Europa League playoffs, Forster has been the number one in Glasgow.
He may have looked suspect for Lazio’s opening goal on Thursday night. However, we had plenty to be thankful for when he was able to beat away efforts from Marco Parolo and Danilo Cataldi. It kept Celtic in front and only helped his already sky-high reputation at Parkhead.
But at the end of the day, Forster belongs to Southampton. They signed him from the Hoops for £10m back in 2014 (The Guardian). And speaking in the Daily Record, Lenny is playing it coy on whether we can nab him permanently.
“We’re a long way off that yet. There are so many factors in it. We’re grateful for the loan from Southampton. It depends on what the player wants to do and then what Southampton want to do as well.
“I think he just wanted to play. He’d been on the cusp with a couple of loans last season that didn’t come through.
“We knew there was interest from the player to come and with Scott Bain having an injury for a couple of months, we needed another goalkeeper in. I wanted a top one and I think we have a top one.”
Loan deal for Forster suited all parties
Getting Forster back considering he had hardly played much football looked a dodgy road to go down. Nobody really knew how he would react to being out the Southampton team for so long.
However, this looks like a deal that’s going to suit all parties. Celtic have got a goalkeeper clearly hungry to play, whilst Southampton are finally seeing a top prospect of theirs finally getting some game-time. As for Forster, he’ll just be delighted to play.
But going back for a permanent deal could be tricky. Sure, Saints have Angus Gunn and Alex McCarthy ahead of him. But if Forster gets back up to speed, are both of those shot-stoppers truly better than Fraz? Doubtful to say the least.
If we did manage to sign Forster, Saints would have to take a bit of a loss on him. There’s surely next to no chance we would splash out a club-record fee for him. Seldom do we look to break our transfer record.
And then we also have to hope that Forster would be happy to stay here. If he felt he had got himself up to speed and could play in England, he would have to go against what originally lured him away from Celtic five years ago – English top-tier football.
There could be plenty of convincing to do if this is to get over the line. But according to Lenny, it’s nowhere near ready to be done just yet.
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