With Burnley facing losing Nick Pope for over half the season they are looking towards Fraser Forster on loan to plug a gap.

Burnley are facing a goalkeeping crisis with the Premier League season opening weekend almost upon us, Nick Pope is likely to miss 6 months after dislocating his shoulder and Tom Heaton has a calf injury which means he could miss the trip to St Mary's on that opening weekend.

This leaves only Anders Lindegaard fit to play in goal and with a raft of games coming up for the Lancashire club they need to plug a gap.

That has led them to enquire about taking Fraser Forster on loan, but would this really be a good move for the Saints keeper ?

Assuming Heaton's calf injury is minor and he would be fit again in the next few weeks where would that leave him at Turf Moor, Heaton is a good keeper who looked set to have a great season last year and go to the World Cup with England before injury intervened and his deputy took his place at both club and country level.

Would Fraser Forster be anything more than a bench warmer when Heaton returns and certainly when Pope is fit again in the New Year he could be relegated to third choice.

The deal could hinge on whether Burnley progress in the Europa League this week, if the beat Aberdeen then they will have a flurry of games thick and fast whereas if they lose then their fixture schedule will suddenly be looking a lot emptier.

If they do go for Forster then as a loan signing he would not be able to play against his parent club, so again it would seem if Heaton is only a short term injury, they could manage quite well with Heaton as first choice and the experienced but perennial bench warmer Lindegaard as back up.

Forster needs to kick start his career again, although he has had his critics in the Saint support he has suffered from playing in front of a poor defence in his final 12 months of being first choice with the line up constantly changing and with key players not giving 100%.

This led to a massive loss of confidence and in fairness to Forster he did have some good games and his statistics last term were not a great deal different from McCarthy's.

Having spent £12 million on Angus Gunn clearly one out of Forster & McCarthy have to go, clearly Saint see Gunn as the first choice in the relatively near future, although McCarthy excelled in the final games of last season there wasn't a raft of clubs vying for his signature even though he was entering the last year of his contract, I am not sure if the club see him as anything more than good back up.

That though is a good thing, McCarthy is being given the chance to show he has what it takes, competition for the shirt can only be a good thing, for Forster though he needs to rebuild his confidence elsewhere and then see whether he has a career at St Mary's, he has given the club good service he is not a bad keeper, just one with his confidence shot to pieces and that is not entirely his fault

I am not sure that Burnley is the right place for him though, he needs to be somewhere where he can be first choice for the season, although just where that could be in the Premier League is unclear.

Photo: Action Images

arthurfane added 09:30 - Jul 31 Probably not the best place for him, but hoping this works out - we simply HAVE to get him off the books asap...
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KriSaint added 13:32 - Jul 31 I feel this could be a great chance for Forster.
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underweststand added 18:25 - Aug 3 All your points well made Nick, and Fraser has to find a new home soon. If Burnley are to continue in Euro League they need goalie cover - with Pope's return so uncertain - not to mention the importance of maintaining their Prem. League form. With only a week left to the seasons start, someone has to do some serious thinking...
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