Not Rob McElhenney’s ‘Legendary Powers’, But 6-Week Challenge Persuaded Ben Foster to Sign For Wrexham in Retirement U-Turn

In September of 2022, 40-year-old Ben Foster called quits on a respectable soccer career. A journey that started at Racing Club Warwick more than twenty years ago. Fast forward 6 months later, the former Manchester United player shocked the soccerverse by announcing his signing for Wrexham.

While many, over the months, speculated Rob McElhenney’s legendary persuasion skills as the reason behind Foster’s retirement U-turn, it has now come to light that the reasons may have been different.

Ben Foster reveals the real reason behind coming out of retirement

In the third installment of Men in Blazers’ “Wrexham in the USA” series, the host of the show Rog was joined by Wrexham goalkeeper, Ben Foster. In the video, the veteran goalie was asked the much-awaited question of what led to him coming out of retirement. Surprisingly, the reason wasn’t Rob McElhenney. 

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Speaking to Rog, Foster revealed that Phil Parkinson first had a 20-minute call where the gaffer basically explained the project to him. The objective in front of him was simple – ‘get six weeks done’; ‘have the lads promoted and that will do’.

But the way Phil spoke to him and the care he showed for Foster is what eventually changed his mind. Parkinson asked the keeper about everything from his body condition to his mental framework. The gaffer promised a thriving environment for Foster which made him take a U-turn from his retirement. In return, all Phil wanted was a healthy Ben Foster which the goalie promised. “If I said I’ll give you six weeks, I’ll give you six weeks of proper,” said the 40-year-old, and as luck would have it, he more than lived up to his promise.

Foster expecting a solid outing from himself for Wrexham next season

Ben Foster joined Wrexham last season as a last-ditch emergency signing. Naturally, he had no physical or match training before joining the Red Dragons. Despite the odds, Foster performed incredibly well in the last 6 weeks of the campaign helping the Welsh club earn promotion.

After his heroics last season and owing to his on-field and locker-room presence, he was given a new contract by the Red Dragons. With the new season looming, the veteran goalie believes he can perform even better this season thanks to a proper pre-season he had with the Red Dragons in the USA.

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“I was really happy with my form, to be honest with you. But when you have got a whole pre-season behind you of solid goalkeeper training, hopefully, you will see a bit more next season as well,” said the goalie optimistically as per Leader Live.

With the way things are going for Ben Foster, he is certainly aging like a fine wine. The question really is if he will be able to match the legendary Buffon’s longevity.