Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he still believes that Ben Foster is the best English goalkeeper, but that his conscience played a part in his decision to accept a £6million offer for him.

“We accepted the bid from Birmingham City simply because we knew how concerned Ben was about his future and I can understand that,” said Ferguson. “I think most of that comes from his disappointment of not having played enough games to get in the England squad this summer. I still feel very strongly about this, that Ben’s the best England goalkeeper and I can’t work out why he wasn’t even considered simply because he didn’t have enough football. Sometimes your conscience does come into it and you have to understand a player’s feelings about it. Ben’s been a terrific servant for us, he’s been very unlucky with a couple of injuries he’s had with us last season and I think he deserves the opportunity to do better for himself.”

Firstly, I don’t think any manager in their right mind would take a goalkeeper to the World Cup who stopped playing for their club because of a string of mistakes, so it makes perfect sense Fabio Capello didn’t pick Foster. Secondly, every other goalkeeper is their club’s number 1, playing week in week out, so it would be pretty harsh if any English keeper in the Premiership missed out to accomodate a 27-year-old with “potential” but who was still second or third choice for their club.

Best of luck, Ben.