West Brom have this evening announced the loan signing of Ben Foster from Birmingham. The stopper joins on a one-year deal with Boaz Myhill moving in the opposite direction.
Foster’s return to the Premier League is not only significant news for the Baggies camp, it’s also a huge development for Fantasy managers.
Foster proved a major Fantasy asset whilst at Birmingham last season, despite suffering relegation to the Championship. He kept 9 clean sheets but also topped the rankings for saves scoring 32 Save Points in 38 starts. That allowed him to emerge as a strong value option with an initial 4.5 price tag in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, earning him recognition in our Fantasy team of the season.
We now await Foster’s valuation throughout the games with a price tag of 4.5-5.0 expected in the FPL. That would see Foster earn plenty of initial squad investment – there’s little doubt that he will have plenty of opportunity to fetch a strong Save Point total at the Hawthorns. However we should also consider that the Baggies kept just 2 clean sheets last term – the lowest in the league.
The shrewd Fantasy manager will note that Foster works superbly in tandem with Villa’s Shay Given – another early favourite for the goalkeeping position in our squads. That particular pairing offer up a strong run of opponents and fixtues (ful BLA WOL nor NEW FUL WIG WOL WBA LIV NOR BOL swa qpr WIG bla) right up until Gameweek 17. That’s by no means the only combination available however – Foster’s arrival back in the Premier League will now cause many of us to reconsider our options between the sticks.
