Profil Ben Foster

Full Name Ben Foster
Birth Date April 3, 1983
Birth Place Leamington Spa
Height 1.88m
Weight 76.8 kg
Age 26
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 12

Foster joined Manchester United from Stoke City for an initial fee of £1m, rising to £2.5m, in July 2005, despite never having played a first-team game for the Potters before his move.

An impressive young goalkeeper, Foster has not had the best of luck with injuries, but si viewed as one of England's best stoppers.

He needed loan moves to gain first team football at the start of his career and the first switch was from Stoke to Kidderminster Harriers in October 2004, before he moved to Wrexham for the remainder of the season in January 2005.

Just after signing for United, he was loaned to Watford for the 2005-06 season to build up his experience and, after a shaky start that saw a number of disastrous gaffes, Foster established himself as the first choice keeper, and went on to put in stellar performances as Watford gained promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs.

After Man Utd signed Tomasz Kuszczak as Edwin Van der Sar's back-up, they agreed to extend his loan for the 2006-07 season. And Foster made a fine impression in a side that owed much of its lengthy but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stay in the Premiership to the superlative stopping of Foster, who was rewarded with his England debut against Spain at Old Trafford in February 2007.

Upon his return he was hotly tipped to push Edwin van der Sar as first choice at Old Trafford until a cruciate knee injury picked up in pre-season ruled him out of action until March.

After recovering, Foster finally made his United debut in a 1-0 victory at Derby County in March 2008, but an ankle injury and a broken finger hindered his development.

He was a key figure in United's Carling Cup success of March 2009 and was given a chance to shine at the start of 2009-10 as Van der Sar missed six weeks through injury, which helped his chances of getting a call-up to the 2010 England World Cup squad.