Foster retires despite having offer from ‘richest club in the world’ Newcastle
Ben Foster turned down a money-spinning offer from Newcastle to continue playing and has instead hung up his gloves.
The 39-year-old goalkeeper has retired from football after leaving Watford at the end of last season when his contract expired. While he has spent the summer courting offers from various clubs, none have enticed him.
And that includes Newcastle, who tried to sign the former West Brom star. The Magpies had a goalkeeping crisis after Karl Darlow was injured while they had just sent Martin Dubravka out on loan to Manchester United.
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However, Foster turned down the Geordies after citing family reasons – despite the fact that they are the richest club in the world and could have made him an enticing offer.
He said on his Cycling Goalkeeper series: “I was just eating my dinner and I thought ‘no, I’m not doing it’. I’ve got to be happy and comfortable and I wouldn’t be able to do that so far away from my family. It would kill me.”
Newcastle's offer was not enough to convince the veteran to carry on and he retires from football having played in 536 professional appearances. A staggering total, that also includes 390 in the Premier League.
While many of them came at Birmingham, West Brom and Watford, he also made a handful of appearances for United when he was starting out his career. In total, he stood between the sticks 23 times for the Red Devils, earning him two Premier League medals.
But it was at Kidderminster Harriers where he made his professional debut following two loan spells from Stoke at semi-professional level. The Harriers were in League Two at the time in 2004 before Foster would leave the Potters for United the next year.
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