Ben Foster explains why he turned down offer from 'richest club in the world' and chose retirement instead

Ben Foster has explained why he turned down a lucrative offer from Newcastle United and elected to retire from the game altogether.

The 39-year-old, who was capped eight times for England, announced he is hanging up the gloves for good on his latest podcast.

Foster had been without a club since leaving Watford following their relegation to the Championship last season.

But he did have a huge proposal from Newcastle, who became the richest club in the world after a £300 million takeover from a Saudi Arabia led consortium was completed back in October.

The Magpies found themselves in a bit of a goalkeeping crisis, having let Martin Dubravka head to Manchester United as David De Gea's understudy.

Karl Darlow picked up an injury and so the club wanted another goalkeeper in the ranks in the event No.1 Nick Pope was unavailable.

Former Manchester United, Birmingham and West Brom shotstopper Foster considered Newcastle's offer but decided it would not be worthwhile given he lives four hours away in the Midlands with his family.

"Deep down I didn't want to do it [turn down Newcastle]," Foster said on Fozcast.

"It sounds mad and it's such a hard thing to explain because there'll be millions of people up and down the country that will say 'you've just been offered a contract, a really good contract, by the richest team in the world to go and be second-choice goalkeeper and be part of something'.

"But I just didn't want to do it, I had this deep feeling, and the wrench of it was that I'd have to move away from home, that would kill me.

"If I'm in an apartment in Newcastle by myself, away from my family, I don't think people can understand. That's hard to do, especially at the age I am and with everything else I've got going on.

"I know for a fact if I'd have gone there I'd have had an amazing time, the lads would have been absolutely brilliant and I'd have buzzed off the stadium, the fans, all that kind of stuff, but the overriding sinking feeling was 'I don't want to do this.'

“I was just eating my dinner and I thought ‘no, I’m not doing it’. I’ve got to be happy and comfortable and I wouldn’t be able to do that so far away from my family. It would kill me.'

In the end, Newcastle snapped up former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius on a free transfer.

Foster, who started out at local side Racing Club Warwick, made a total of 536 appearances in his career, including 390 in the Premier League.

He's become immensely popular online thanks to his Cycling GK YouTube channel, which began with incredible behind-scenes content during lockdown football.

Featured Image Credit: Image: Alamy & Fozcast

Topics: Ben Foster, Watford, Premier League, Newcastle United

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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