For months now there has been continued reports of Celtic being linked to or “on the brink of signing” Fraser Forster. I am under no illusion that the big Englishman is a quality ‘keeper and he has served Celtic well when he has signed for us but, if we re-sign him in January I believe that could set the teams recovery on the pitch back.
Celtic’s troubles this season have come from reports from the manager himself that there are players in the dressing room that do not want to be there. Speculation that players such as Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and Olivier N’tcham being amongst the names being linked with moves in the January transfer window has been rife since Lennon made the revelation after the Champions League exit, so why would bringing back another player who clearly didn’t want to stay at Celtic Park help the team recovery and what message would that send to the players who WANT to be here?
Celtic currently have three goalkeepers who want to play for the club, and yes granted, Forster is a better keeper than all three of them, but if we make a move for Forster the damage to team cohesion could be catastrophic. Lennon’s persistence on continually selecting players that want to leave has affected performances, and after Thursday nights Europa League result where he dropped those players, the energy, enthusiasm and effort on the pitch was improved ten fold and the 3-2 result came with that improvement.
Forster has not featured in a single match this season for Southampton. His assertion that he could fight for his place at a mid table EPL club when he could have been first pick at a massive club picking up honours and playing European football has backfired spectacularly and for all his talent, Celtic should make moves to stop the speculation and work with players who are committed to fighting for their place, and dedicated to improving performances and results this season