Defender hails West Brom's Ben Foster coup

West Bromwich Albion defender Liam Ridgewell today hailed the signing of Ben Foster as a major coup for the club.

Ridgewell claimed the Baggies have one of the Premier League's best pairs of goalkeepers with Foster on board permanently and Boaz Myhill back from his loan at Birmingham.

Foster followed up his successful loan from Birmingham last season by making a £3.5m permanent switch this summer while Myhill is back at The Hawthorns after spending last season on loan with Blues.

And left-back Ridgewell said: "Signing Ben was absolutely fantastic – one of the best pieces of news of the summer.

"The term 'world class' is easy to use these days but 'Foz' really is that good.

"And he gives great confidence to the defenders playing in front of him. It's a great signing for the club. I'm sure a few clubs wouldn't have minded signing him so for us to get him was a fantastic bit of business. Credit to the chairman for getting him signed up and Boaz Myhill isn't a bad lad to have as No.2. I know him well from my time at Aston Villa and he has just gone from strength to strength."

"Hopefully we can keep hold of him because there can't be many Premier League clubs who have two such brilliant goalkeepers."

The Baggies players have been hit this week with a gruelling return to training, with coaches running sessions at 10am and 5pm each day.

But Ridgewell still believes pre-season work is more enjoyable than at the start of his career.

"Training has changed a lot over the years," he said. "I'm 28 next week but when I started it was all about running up and down hills.

"We do a lot of training with the ball now, which is good for the lads, and I've been impressed with what I've seen of the new gaffer so far."