West Brom boss Clarke: Foster could not handle England pressure

West Brom manager Steve Clarke says that the pressure of playing for England was too much for goalkeeper Ben Foster to handle.

The Baggies keeper, who is enjoying one of his best spells between the posts in the Premier League, announced his international retirement just under two years ago.

The 29-year-old was once tipped to be the England goalkeeper for the next decade when coming into the team earlier in his career at Manchester United but things failed to work out for the player at Old Trafford.

However, on the back of Foster's man of the match performance against Liverpool in his team's latest outing in the Premier League, Clarke says that England's loss is his gain,

"If you're looking at a top-line goalkeeper, every mistake is analysed," Clarke told the Daily Mail. "If you go with England, it's magnified 10 times.

"Ben decided he'd rather spend time with his family than be put under that stress and strain and we respect that. For us as a club, it's good.

"Ben like to be out of the limelight. He likes to go out, do his training and play as well as he can for Albion. He gets enough satisfaction from that to keep his career going forward."