MANCHESTER UNITED v EVERTON:ALEX FERGUSON will reject any attempt by his back-up goalkeeper Ben Foster to secure an England place for next summer by going on loan from Manchester United for the rest of the season.

Foster, said after England’s defeat by Brazil in Qatar that it was “weird” and “very disheartening” to keep goal for his country while being third-choice for his club. He also accepted that, with Edwin van der Sar unlikely to be displaced as United’s leading goalkeeper, his best chance of making Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa would lie in a loan deal.

Ferguson, who also argued that Wayne Rooney is a credible candidate to be England’s long-term captain, said Foster’s immediate future is at Old Trafford, where he has been replaced on the bench by Tomasz Kuszczak.

“He is staying here,” the Scot said, stating that in time the England manager would recognise that Foster is superior to David James, Robert Green and any other candidate for the World Cup finals.

“Capello has had a little bit of time to see Ben’s qualities and that assessment will bear fruit in the next few months. I am not protecting the lad because he is my goalkeeper but I look at the abilities of the other goalkeepers who are English and I don’t think they are as good as Ben Foster. It’s as simple as that.

“Without doubt he is England’s best goalkeeper. He has got the presence and he is the quickest and he is brave. But I think that for a lad of 26, he hasn’t had much game experience. That’s the negative part for him and that is where it will cost him his England position at the moment.”

History is against Foster. Only one goalkeeper, Scott Carson, has made an England World Cup squad without being a regular for his club. And in 2006 he had to leave Liverpool to go on loan to Sheffield Wednesday and then rely on an injury to Green to make it to Germany, where he never left the bench.

Suggestions that Foster, who has not played in the Premier League since United’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the start of October, had “suffered this season” caused Ferguson’s temper to snap.

“Suffered? What kind of word is that?” he said.

“Did we cut off his leg or something? He has made a couple of bad mistakes in games where his performance level has been very good. His problem is that he has Edwin van der Sar in front of him.”

Just as Ferguson was happy to see David Beckham captain England, without ever considering him to lead United, he said that Rooney has the attributes to be the long-term captain of his country, without necessarily wearing the armband at Old Trafford.

Once the era of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand has passed, Ferguson said he is more likely to turn to John O’Shea.

“I think Fabio made him captain against Brazil because he was the one regular player left,” he said.

“But top players can take that responsibility. They have got their ego, reputation and pride to defend. You could see the qualities that Wayne would bring to the captaincy – his determination, his hunger and his desire to do well. He always tries, no matter how the team is playing, and those are wonderful qualities for a captain.

“But he is not in my thinking to be (United) captain at the moment. He is young and I prefer older players and I prefer midfielders and centre-backs, unless you have someone like Eric Cantona, who imparted a great experience to the younger lads – and they loved him for it.”

O’Shea is unlikely to be fit to face Everton this evening and United have identified Ferdinand’s injury that has kept him out since the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool on October 25th as a recurrence of a long-standing back complaint.

“We are not putting a timescale on it,” Ferguson said. “It is not months, probably two to three weeks.”

- Guardian Service