Fraser Forster is a fans favourite up at Celtic Park even though he snubbed them last year to remain at St Mary's, but with a year left on his contract it seems that Celtic are sniffing around again.

Last summer Celtic tried to take Fraser Forster on loan for a second season, but found that the player himself preferred to stay at St Mary's and fight for his place, in his place Vasilis Barkas arrived from Olympiakos for £5million but failed to live up to expectations, and now talks have begun over bringing Forster back to the club on loan, according to the Scottish Sun and other media outlets.

But the various outlets seem unable to agree what the terms of the deal will be, the Scottish Sun claim that Celtic will have to pay a third of Forster's £130k a week wages, which as we all know is an absurd figure, whilst other reports suggest that Forster is on £72k a week and that Saints want not only a loan fee of around £3 million but those wages paid.

For both player and club it is a crossroads, the keeper is now in the last year of his contract and Saints need him at St Mary's even if he can't oust Alex McCarthy, if they let Forster go out on loan it is effectively a free transfer albeit one where we might have to pay a proportion of his wages if we believe the Scottish Sun.

But if he let him go then we have to replace him and that will cost money, that being the case it is pointless letting him go to Celtic unless they pay all of his wages, if they were to say pay £50,000, leaving us to pay around £25 k a week still on the books, by the time we took on another keeper even if it was on loan, we would be out of pocket, so it would be pointless.

At worst it would have to be a deal that sees all of his wages paid at best for Saints we would want a transfer fee as well, in truth if we were to pursue that avenue then it would effectively be a permanent transfer anyway.

Celtic are perhaps trying to get Forster on the cheap due his being in the last year of his contract, but they are barking up the wrong tree, it has to be the right financial deal for Saints, otherwise it just isn't worth our while, better to keep Forster fighting for his place with Alex McCarthy and give us a year to find a new keeper who will be number one going forward.

Many Saints fans consider that in the second half of the season Fraser Forster was a better bet in the Saints goal and nearing his best again, even in the bizarre two games in two games out experiment at the end of the season, Forster showed his form and McCarthy didn't.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 10:36 - Jul 18 I have no problem with FF going to Celtic but with Gunn gone to Norwich that leaves us pretty short at the GK position both in terms of numbers and quality. If FF does go I would like to see the club sign a decent replacement who would likely become the no 1.
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underweststand added 10:49 - Jul 18 Back to square one ....with Celtic wanting Forster, but unable / unwilling to pay for him. The other issue is that now that Angus Gunn has departed ALL THREE of our keepers; Forster, McCarthy and Lewis will be out of contract next summer. There will certainly be some investment required in this area, as we need at least two men who have some sort of international experience to perform well when considering the quality of the strikers they will be facing in the the Prem.

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highfield49 added 11:54 - Jul 18 Oh well, a bit more speculation to add to the rumour mill. If there's any truth in Celtic being interested in Forster then paying his alleged £75k a week wages for a year would be cheaper than the money they invested in Barkas, presuming they can unload him of course. Maybe it's indicative that we have a new goalkeeper lined up to sign so it could be good news.
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Crispinmumbles added 12:08 - Jul 18 Lurch has pride. When he conceded 9, McCarthy looked like he'd thrown the towel in. Okay he goes down in instalments but he was probably our best keeper last year.
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inthebox added 12:33 - Jul 18 It didn't help matters that last season, both FF and AM not knowing if they had the full confidence of RH
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dirk_doone added 12:54 - Jul 18 He is our best goalkeeper. It would be madness to let him go. I don't suppose Celtic would take McCarthy instead? No, I guess they're not that stupid.
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Saidou added 01:13 - Jul 19 I can't help but firmly come to terms that our club is a joke. We have always moaned about our good managers leaving us for money. Now that we have a good manager who feels indebted to not leave the club and actually loves working for us, we are showing no ambition of supporting him in the transfer market. Last season was a clear indication to all of us that we can top the league with good fit players and we need reinforcements into the squad. Less than one month into season we still only have one fresh addition. We are very much a relegation candidate. Can anyone tell me what our target for next season is?

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