Since returning to the side in December, Fraser Forster has been a revelation, he has looked like the goalkeeper of old, when he was a key part of the Southampton side that had three consecutive top 8 finishes and a League Cup final appearance between 2014-17.

Fraser Forster had become the forgotten man at St Mary's, he was a crucial figure in the Saints goal after signing from Celtic in the summer of 2014, in his first season he played 30 games before an injury ended his season in March 2015.

Saints fell away a little without him in the side losing 5 of the last 8 and winning just 2, but they had done enough already to mean they hung on for a 7th place finish and qualify for the Europa League.

He was out for around half of the following season with Saints using 3 other keepers with Marten Stekelenburg doing the bulk of the duties until Forster returned in January 2016 to see out the remainder of the season.

Suddenly Saints looked a good side again, he would not concede in his first 6 games on his return and in his 18 appearances we would lose just 3 as we stormed up the League and ended the season with a flourish that would propel us to our highest ever Premier League finish to date, 6th and another Europa League campaign.

The following season 2016/17 he played in every game and played a big part as Saints finished 8th and also reached the League cup final, in the semi final at Anfield he had a storming game including a double wonder save.

But the following season it all started to go wrong, he started ok, but with the departure of Virgil Van Dijk and the loss of Jose Fonte in front of him, suddenly defensively we were poor.

A good keeper needs a good partnership with his central defenders and Saints didn't seem to have a settled partnership, early doors Van Dijk & new signing Wesley Hoedt looked ok, but Van Dijk was never interested and it was a mish mask who played alongside him, Forster had a confidence crisis and Alex McCarthy came in after a disaster at Wembley against Spurs.

That was it for that season, McCarthy did ok and Saints stayed up by the skin of their teeth.

2018/19 saw Saints sign Angus Gunn and Forster third choice, at St Mary's it was another goalkeeping crisis season, McCarthy's form dropped and Gunn came in for the second half of the season, although Fraser did play in the final game of the season.

2019/20 saw him back to Celtic for a season long loan, he did well, but Celtic could not afford to sign him permanently, on a reputed £85k a week, the Scottish club were paying only around £35k of his wages and that amount was about as much as they could pay him even if Saints let him go on a free.

So in the summer of 2020 he returned to St Mary's and looked set to see out the remainder of his contract as back up.

But the trouble for Saints was that in his career Alex McCarthy had virtually only ever been a back up keeper, he had the skills to play in the Premier League, but lacked the concentration to keep a high level of form over a whole season, he started as number 1, but by January was again struggling.

Forster came in for him for an injury and played against Liverpool in a 1-0 win and shortly after was number 1 again, he was looking the part, but bizarrely Ralph Hasenhuttl opted to rotate both keepers in a two game at a time system.

Forster was the better keeper of the two and after again performing well in the pre season of 2021/22 it was a surprise when McCarthy got the nod at the start of this term.

This was strange, Forster had been the better keeper of the latter part of the previous season and dominant in pre season, the only reason I can think of is that, there is a clause in Fraser's contract that gives him a new deal on the same money should he play a certain number of League games, back in the summer with money tight, we could not afford that clause to be activated so left him on the bench, now perhaps he is unable to play the required number so this is not an issue.

His performances were far from convincing and you had to wonder why Forster wasn't thrown back into the side after a brilliant game against Chelsea in the League Cup, but Hasenhuttl stuck with McCarthy.

The catalyst for change came at the start of December when McCarthy failed to let the bench know he was injured in the home game against Brighton and conceded a late goal, McCarthy had not had a bad game up until then, but he was lambasted publicly by his manager who accused him of being unprofessional.

But Forster did not return straight away, McCarthy's injury meant that he was out for 2-3 months, but Fraser was also injured and in came Willy Caballero on loan.

But Fraser would return on Boxing Day in a fine win against West Ham and since then he has improved with every game, he looks back to the keeper of old, big strong and confident and he has been a big reason why since his return Saints have turned from a side looking over their shoulders a bit, into one that now harbours top 10 hopes.

On Saturday against Everton he didn't have a shot to save, but he showed why a keeper needs to be able to concentrate for 90 minutes, he commanded his box and did the basics well making sure that Everton didn't see a chink of light.

Ralph Hasenhuttl now has decisions to make. 4 months ago it looked clean cut, Alex McCarthy would sign a new deal and be back up next season to a new incoming keeper and Fraser would depart and probably find a deal somewhere on around a third of his wages.

But that has now changed, it looks like it is now going to be McCarthy who will leave, even if Forster also goes and a new man comes in, it is likely that Willy Caballero is above McCarthy in the pecking order and would be far cheaper.

However Ralph now has some thinking to do, Forster's form is such that he could even be looked at as a first choice for next season if we don't land the keeper that we want to, his age is against him in that he will be 34 next month, but that is still only middle age for a keeper and not quite at retirement.

So it could be that Fraser is the man the new deal is offered to, potentially as back up to a new signing, but it wouldn't surprise me if the club's thinking has changed slightly, if he keeps up the form, then he might save the club a few million whilst they look for a successor.

Yes they have been linked with Dean Henderson & Sam Johnston, but both will be in demand and with Sport Republic now in charge the recruitment has changed slightly, could Forster do one more year as first choice whilst the recruiting department look for the type of signing our new owners like, ie someone under the radar and able to be bought at a good price and developed into a class keeper.

The next few months could be both interesting and critical for Southampton Football Club and indeed Fraser Forster, could he still yet be here next season ?

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 12:33 - Feb 22 With all four goalies "out of contract " in the summer, we must take a serious look at the situation. IMHO Forster is back to the same level as when having been capped by England, he kept 6 successive clean sheets (albeit with a strong defence in front of him). The "Wembley massacre " (when Spurs beat us 5-2) was a real shock to everyone and he didn't play again for almost a year. Now he is back , he looks like anew player already. It would be a no-brainer to re-sign him - perhaps at " a more reasonable " salary level. Meanwhile Alex McCarthy took the goalie's shirt an we entered a long period when we conceded more goals than some of the teams that were eventually relegated. YES he did make some good saves along the way - (isn't that what goalies are paid for ?) - but on many occasions he seems to freeze, like the proverbial " rabbit trapped in the headlights" and doesn't convey a confidence and some of his positional play verges on suicidal . Clearly we must make some change. If we do sign " Henderson or Johnstone " it would give us two good goalies to choose from and whilst it's been tough on Harry Lewis - he really should be looking to play somewhere every week... and perhaps the idea of retaining Willie C. for - at least one more season - doesn't sound so daft either.

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Waylander added 14:09 - Feb 22 McCarthy signed a new contract last summer - confirmed by Dan Sheldon on Saintsweb yesterday. It was never announced for reasons that remain unclear.
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dellboysaint added 14:23 - Feb 22 McCarthy has no idea on his near post but this is Fraser's strength. Fraser has given the whole side confidence and the results have got better. I hope McCarthy never plays again.
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WestSussexSaint added 14:44 - Feb 22 The article headline suggested something a bit more definite than is actually the case. The article is just wishful thinking rather than any clear sign that the club will off FF a new contract. I don’t disagree with the sentiment and if a deal can be struck then great news. However I expect the club will want to see how much other options are first. Looks like McCarthy is staying but hopefully just as a back up.

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SanMarco added 15:01 - Feb 22 FF has his weaknesses on crosses but he does the the rest of the basics better than McCarthy, including, vitally, knowing where his near post is. If I had to choose one of the four to keep it would be him but this stuff about the McCarthy contract muddies the waters. Whatever happens we need a decent new keeper in the summer.
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landsdownsaint added 15:08 - Feb 22 It must be very inspiring being GK with Salisu , Tino , KWP etc in front of you, we were so stale with the likes of Bertram , Vestergaard , Cedric & hate too say it Jack Stephens , Bednarek was different for the sheer effort he put in & still does
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Whatsforpud added 17:01 - Feb 22 Forster is very much an unconventional keeper. It has been well reported that he doesn't leave his line very far to catch crosses, which is surprising, given his height. However, he is good at leaving his line in order to sweep, up through balls. He is good at what could be described as star jump saves, spreading arms and legs to make himself big. But a weakness is he tends to parry shots that other keepers might have caught. Whoever is in goal, I hope the manager abandons the two-yard goal kicks, which invariably leads to trouble.

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1962saint added 21:22 - Feb 22 Despite their 3-0 win at Brighton, Burnley still look likely to go down this year. If so we should be considering Nick Pope as a summer signing.
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