Fraser Forster has discussed the decision to re-sign for Celtic in the summer of 2019 as the English goalkeeper looks back at the comeback story that took him from Southampton’s third choice last year to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s first pick. A big part of that return to the Premier League was the incredible impact that Forster had as Celtic completed 9IAR, got to the Last 32 and sealed another Treble.
However, speaking to the Southampton website, the goalkeeper said that it was easy to go back to Celtic but he decided to come back to St Marys and fight for his place.
“To go and play 50, 60 games was fantastic. It was easy for me to go back there as it’s another club I have a fantastic relationship with.
“A lot of the staff were the same as my first time there, so it was like I’d never left. It was a great year, I had some great games.
“I got some game time and felt I just reminded people what I can do. I had a fantastic year there, won trophies and did well in Europe.
“I made the decision in the summer that I wanted to come back here and fight for my place. I’ve had to bide my time and the FA Cup has been crucial to that, but I got my head down and worked hard.”
Forster will face Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City in the FA Cup Semi-Final and the prospect of playing in a Cup Final won’t daunt a player of Forster’s experience. It was ultimately a case of what could have been this season and a big part of that was losing a top quality goalkeeper like Forster but also pinning our hopes on him, which meant that Craig Gordon could leave for Hearts on a free.
Celtic have played three goalies since Forster left. Two players that trained with Forster last season – Scott Bain and Conor Hazard become a makeshift No.1s, replacing Vasilis Barkas who was meant to be the like-for-like replacement. The £4.5m arrival from AEK Athens was billed as Fraser Forster’s replacement but Barkas hasn’t settled at the club. He has struggled to make any positive impression and criticism has been planted at his door.
