Ben Foster has backed Birmingham City's plans to dominate eastern markets such as China. Apart from World Cup star Nikola Zigic, Foster attracted more attention than most out here and that was largely due to his Manchester United links. Chinese fans buy up hundreds of Man Utd Hospitality Tickets every match.

Scores of fans dashed to get the goalkeeper’s autograph and photo at the club’s final training session at Guangzhou’s Ying Tung Stadium on Monday.

Earlier, Ben Foster had been presented with an away United shirt to sign at Blues’ hotel in the nearby district of Panyu.

The 27-year-old travelled out to this part of the world with Manchester United last summer.

As well as taking in Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea, the Red Devils also played a friendly in Hangzhou against Greentown.

Ben Foster hopes to leave behind his experiences of United and start fresh at Birmingham. The former Manchester United man joined Alex McLeish's Blues in May in an initial £4million deal after falling out of favour at both club and England level.

Foster had been expected to become a first choice for United and his country, especially after his penalty shoot-out heroics in the 2009 League Cup final.

But a dip in form saw him stall and he is now determined to kick-start his career, although the 27-year-old old acknowledges that time is not on his side.

"I didn't get into the football scene until late," he told the Birmingham Mail. "I didn't do any YTS or anything like that. I was 22 years old when I signed for Manchester United, people thought I was 18."

Birmingham City hope to confirm the signing of Ben Foster from Manchester United within the next 24 hours for a fee rising to £6m.

Foster is due to complete his medical tomorrow and is expected to agree a three-year contract at St Andrew's as he seeks to resurrect his club and international career after a chastening final 12 months at Old Trafford that cost him his place in England's World Cup squad.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper was left out of Fabio Capello's provisional squad for South Africa after a frustrating season at United during which he dropped to third choice, behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak, after several high-profile errors earlier in the campaign. Frustrated at playing so little football, he recently admitted that he was "not interested in just hanging about" and that he "would go if [United] wanted to sell me".

Although Foster played for England against Brazil in November, he made only two further appearances for United, against Besiktas in the Champions League and West Ham United in the Premier League, between then and the end of the season. That lack of first-team football prompted him to concede earlier this month that Robert Green, Joe Hart and David James had jumped above him in the England pecking order and that he would be forced to watch the World Cup finals at home.

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Sir Alex Ferguson insists goalkeeper Ben Foster will not be leaving Manchester United over the summer.

While Ferguson sympathises with the former Stoke goalkeeper's position, he does not expect him to be heading for the exit.

"Ben has been unfortunate," said Ferguson. "He made some mistakes earlier this season and Tomasz Kuszczak got in. His form has been great. Every time he played he was outstanding. What do I do? Pick Ben because he is English or go with form?

"But Ben has fantastic talent and I am sure he will be tremendous next year. The boy has just signed a new contract and has never said anything to me, so as far as I am concerned, he will be here."

Despite dropping him for Saturday's game against Bolton, Manchester United chief Sir Alex Ferguson maintains his faith in Ben Foster.

Foster has been United's first choice this season with Edwin van der Sar sidelined after he broke a couple of fingers in pre-season.

The Dutch veteran is now fit to return again and Ferguson has confirmed that he will start against Bolton on Saturday.

Despite reinstating van der Sar, Ferguson is still backing Foster.

"I still feel he is the best English goalkeeper around," said Ferguson.

"He has been outstanding in a lot of things. The save he made on Wednesday was typical of his performance level with us too. They are a demonstration of the guy's ability.

"But he still has not had a lot of game time and experience. His injuries have curtailed the progress he was making.

"He is only going to get better, though, and there is no question he will be a fantastic goalkeeper."

Edwin van der Sar is backing Ben Foster to recover from his current problems, but warned his team-mate he also intends to take back his Manchester United place between the posts.

Foster has endured a turbulent few weeks, being blamed for two Manchester City goals in the thrilling Old Trafford derby last month before being brushed aside far too easily by Sunderland's Kenwyne Jones last weekend.

However, Van der Sar can offer some words of comfort, telling the Manchester Evening News: "Nobody has a clear path in their career. You go up and down. You just have to make sure that the downs are not as deep as the ones you go up."

He added: "I had similar things when I was young. That is what makes you the man and the player you become as a goalkeeper.

"Ben certainly has the strength of character to overcome what he has been through. How he deals with it will shape the player he will be.

"He is a very strong guy. I have sympathy for him but I have no worries about him."

Manchester United are set to keep faith with goalkeeper Ben Foster for Saturday's visit of Sunderland.

Foster missed out on a first-team spot for the midweek game against German side Wolfsburg, with Tomasz Kuszczak deputising in his absence.

But Sir Alex Ferguson will restore the England hopeful between the sticks against the Black Cats at the weekend.

The 26-year-old came under scrutiny after a poor performance in the Manchester derby when a first-half error led to Gareth Barry scoring City's first goal.
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And although he kept a clean sheet against Stoke, Foster missed out in the Carling Cup against Wolves last week, and in the UEFA Champions League against Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

"Tomasz Kuszczak produced a very good performance against Wolves last week and we felt he deserved to play another game," Ferguson said.

"It wasn't going to be last Saturday though because we had to give Ben some support after that difficult game against Manchester City.

"It was a good opportunity for us to play Tomasz (against Wolfsburg) but Ben will play on Saturday."

England coach Fabio Capello dropped under-performing Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster from the squad to face Ukraine and Belarus in World Cup qualifying games and recalled veteran keeper David James on Sunday.

Foster has made a string of errors and looked hesitant playing for United this season while James returned after injury for the first time since April.

After eight straight Group 6 wins, England has already qualified for the World Cup. But Capello will be using the last two qualifiers to help decide the squad he takes to South Africa next June.

Capello has recalled Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, who made his second England appearance in February but is without Jermain Defoe because of injury while Theo Walcott and Joe Cole are left out because they have only just returned from lengthy layoffs.

Ben Foster is understood to have agreed a new four-year contract at Manchester United after being offered an improved long-term deal.

The 25-year-old has been been badly hampered by injury problems in recent seasons, but is still seen by Sir Alex Ferguson as the successor to Edwin van der Sar.

Foster, who is targeting a place in the England squad for next year's World Cup in South Africa, proved his quality during his loan spell at Watford and in patches with United and is happy to commit to the champions.

The new deal will reportedly see the goalkeeper double his wages to around £50,000 a week, as he now concentrates on trying to establish himself in pre-season.

Having lost Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in recent weeks, Fergie is also lining up improved deals for Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck in the near future.