Wrexham have announced the signing of ex-Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster until the end of the season.
The club, who are pushing for promotion in the National League, sit at the top of the table with a three-point cushion over Notts County as we reach crunch point in the season.
Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are pushing for promotion into League Two and want to leave no stone unturned. After it was announced that goalkeeper Rob Lainton sustained an injury which will see him miss a large chunk of the rest of the campaign, the north Wales club acted quickly to get the experienced Foster, 39, in the building.
Foster returns to the club 18 years after he was sent there on loan from Stoke City. While with the Red Dragons first time around, he reached the LDV Vans Trophy Final, a competition Wrexham won, which he believes earnt him the move to Manchester United back in 2005.
Foster, who last played for Watford in the Premier League in 2022, hopes for similar success, only this time in the league, this time around.
“I’m over the moon. I’ve been at the club an hour this morning and it seems a really nice place. Everyone is down to earth and the manager’s top class," Foster said after signing.
“It’s changed a lot since I was last here, but it’s nice to be back and it’s nice to be back as a player too. It will be interesting to see how my body feels after training today! I’m looking forward to getting started.
“The first time I was here, it was genuinely the springboard to the rest of my career – on the back of the loan move, playing in the LDV Vans Trophy Final at the Millennium Stadium, I got my move to Manchester United at the start of the next season. It was absolutely bonkers!
“If you’d told me 18 years ago that I’d have gone on to have the career that I have had, I probably wouldn’t have believed you to be honest so I do owe a lot to Wrexham.”
Foster's storied career saw him play 23 times for United before moving on to Birmingham City in 2010. His transfer to West Brom in 2012 saw him find stability and he spent the next six seasons with the Midlands club before ending his career with the Hornets.
He also boasts eight England caps.
Manager Phil Parkinson will hope Foster provides that extra bit of experience which will see his side sneak over the line and achieve promotion to the fourth tier.
“We’re delighted to welcome Ben to the club," Parkinson said.
“With Rob Lainton getting injured at the weekend, it was important we had all bases covered going into the last part of the season, which this signing ensures.”
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