Comment: Sam Johnstone's arrival softens the blow of Ben Foster's impending exit
There is a strong case for considering Ben Foster as one of Albion’s best players of the past decade and one of the best goalkeepers in the club’s 140-year history.
A stand-out performer during a successful stint in the Premier League, his talented shot-stopping took the breath away on countless occasions.
It’s a sign of how good he was that he regularly swept up in the gongs, winning both the Players’ Player of the Year and Supporters’ Player of the Year awards three times each.
There’s no doubting he would have been an incredibly useful player in the second tier – but his impending exit is nowhere near as concerning as it might be thanks to Albion’s move to replace him with Sam Johnstone.
Foster is 35, and regardless of how long keepers can outlast outfield players, he is coming to the end of his career.
Johnstone, on the other hand, is 10 years his junior and has a bright future ahead of him.
The 25-year-old has pedigree, having come through the ranks at Manchester United, but he is not a wet-behind-the-ears youngster with question marks over mentality.
Not only has he worked his way up the leagues with several loan spells at a variety of clubs, over the past 18 months he’s proven himself in the Championship with Aston Villa.
Johnstone kept 22 clean sheets last season, the second highest in the division, and emerged as a reliable and impressive keeper in that tier.
Foster’s seven-year stint at Albion may be ending on a sour note following his refusal to go to Darren Moore’s training camp in Portugal, and that choice was undoubtedly a mistake, even if Watford is a club close to his heart and arguably the only one capable of turning his head.
It has tainted his reputation with the Baggies fans, who did previously adore him, because it came just two months after he vowed to stay and fight for promotion.
But Johnstone’s impending arrival should soften the blow and in a few years’ time, once the dust has settled, Foster will hopefully be remembered for the seven years of quality keeping rather than one summer of agitation.
Johnstone, meanwhile, is an exciting prospect and replacing Foster with him will cost the Baggies around £4m net. In years to come, it could prove to be extremely shrewd business indeed.
