Foster open to permanent switch

Bafana Bafana striker Lyle Foster has told the Siya crew that he is keen on having his loan spell in Belgium made permanent!

Speaking exclusively to Soccer Laduma from the national team hotel in France this week, the 21-year-old indicated that he was now in the best form of his career, since moving from Orlando Pirates to Europe as a teenager to join AS Monaco.

Foster is currently playing for Westerlo in the Belgian second tier and close to helping the side gain promotion, and the crew reported last month that there were talks behind the scenes to have him leave Vitoria Guimaraes permanently, having joined them for R20 million nearly two years ago.

The forward has managed 24 games in all competitions, scoring five goals and contributing with the same number of assists.

It’s the kind of form that earned him a Bafana call-up for South Africa’s

first trip to Europe in nearly a decade.

“If I can stay, I would stay, 100 percent,” Foster told Soccer Laduma, in the interview (see pages 10 and 11).

“I am enjoying it there and it’s the perfect environment for me and I feel as though I am improving and growing every day. I wake up and I am full and whole. I am going to training and looking forward to the games on the weekends. If things were to align, I hope I can stay at the club and play there for a few more seasons,” added the promising talent.

Indications are that Foster has got three years left to run on his deal with the Portuguese outfit, which means that Westerlo will need negotiate a transfer fee with his mother club.

Now, it remains to be seen whether the two clubs can come to an agreement and whether the ex-Orlando Pirates star can get his wish!