Foster home for Ben

Funny how things come full circle.

Take the picture below. Seventy-eighth minute. Old Trafford. Opening day of the season.

Manchester United's Ben Foster pulls off a crucial fingertip save to stop Christian Benitez marking an exciting cameo debut with an equaliser.

It gave us our first glimpse of Chucho (and also showed a sign of things to come in front of goal).

And for Foster, he hoped it the start of an opportunity to stake a claim for the number one jersey at United.

Benitez has been told 'thanks, but no thanks' - and so has Foster.

After losing his place at United, and being lambasted for a couple of errors during that early spell of games, which are magnified tenfold when you play for such a club, he is now at Blues.

Foster fell out of the England reckoning too as his career threatened to stagnate.

He saw what Joe Hart did at St Andrew's, what the value was of regular football, in a tight-knit team with a good manager and good goalkeeper coach.

Nobody knew what quite to expect of Hart when he joined Blues on loan from Manchester City. But, like the side as a whole, he far exceeded our expectations - and he's going to the World Cup finals.

Foster, having taken stock, will look to emulate Blues player-of-the-season.

He has a hunger to succeed and show again why he was once thought of the man most likely to establish himself as England's first choice between the sticks for years to come.

Hart, pictured saluting Blues fans in an emotional farewell at Bolton Wanderers after the season's final game, left Manchester for similar reasons. He wanted his career to progress, he wanted to prove himself.

He would have gladly returned to Blues but his performances, which were basically error-free, made the Eastlands outfit realise what they had on their doorstep.

Imagine a few months down the line now, Foster and Hart both in the England squad, competing to become David James' heir apparent. Don't be surprised if that happens.

Credit Blues, too, for not dilly-dallying. They, sensibly, made contingency plans several weeks ago on the assumption that Hart would not be staying and Foster was identified immediately as the goalkeeper to go for.

Alex McLeish couldn't afford to hang around all summer to see what Manchester planned to do. And it still might be that they sign another goalkeeper (money is no object) and Hart, who won't settle for second fiddle, becomes available.

That was too big a risk to take and Foster could have gone elsewhere if Big Eck had decided to hang fire.

The £6 million outlay shows, too, that Carson Yeung - shock, horror - is prepared to fund transfer dealings. And the importance of the goalkeeper position is such that McLeish was told they would do whatever it took to get the right replacement for Hart.

Ultimately, Yeung will be judged on by the time the window closes on August 31, and rightly so.

He won't go crazy and let McLeish take the club down the Portsmouth route. Don't expect £40 million to be spent on fees alone.

Blues have tried for other players already, and tabled a very attractive contract to Cacau on a Bosman free transfer.

And the suspects named, they are very serious about.

I always find it puzzling that some think their targets are 'leaked', or bids have gone in under the perceived asking price just to look good.

That's not the case at all. McLeish has been very scrupulous and it is the media's job to try to find out where exactly clubs are looking and write accordingly.

You will get agents, for obvious reasons, encouraging speculation and trying to drum up interest via the newspapers and television. How many clubs have supposedly wanted to sign Kasper Schmeichel, for instance?

But there is no sham concerning what Blues are doing, and have been doing, since the season's end.

They like, for instance, Charles N'Zogbia (pictured above) and remain hopeful that over forthcoming weeks they can barter an agreement with Wigan Athletic.

And they wouldn't go in for such players in the first place if they didn't have reason to believe that they would entertain a move to St Andrew's - as Foster certainly did.