FRASER Forster would be attracting the attention of the “biggest clubs in the country” had he not suffered a serious knee injury last year.

The goalkeeper was in sensational form for Saints prior to the injury, which happened against Burnley at St Mary’s last March.

The England international has only just returned to competitive action.

Saints have already reaped the benefits of having the £10m man available again – Forster keeping clean sheets in three successive Premier League games.

And one man who knows full well how good Forster is – and how good he can be – is the club’s goalkeeping coach Dave Watson.

Watson had previously worked with Forster at international level, prior to joining Saints following Ronald Koeman’s arrival in June 2014.

Speaking at an event in Barnsley this week, Watson admitted: “Fraser Forster is a brilliant young goalkeeper and, if he hadn’t missed so much time with this injury, I think the biggest clubs in the country would be looking at him.”

Watson also spoke of enjoying life at St Mary’s – and even claimed a “tiny bit” of credit for Charlie Austin’s debut winner last weekend.

“Southampton is a fantastic club and I have really enjoyed working with Ronald Koeman in the last 18 months,” Watson said.

“He has a very simple approach which works very well.

“I wouldn’t have taken any job where I didn’t have a massive say on the signing and selection of the goalkeepers and I get that at Southampton.

“I am also in charge of the organisation of set pieces both in attack and defence.

“I will take a tiny bit of credit for Charlie Austin’s goal at Old Trafford but really it is down to the players.”

Watson has been Roy Hodgson’s England goalkeeping coach for the last few years, but freely admits he is lucky still to be involved with the country’s elite players.

“We had a very difficult World Cup (in Brazil in 2014) and we were fortunate to keep our jobs because the performances weren’t good enough.

“The dressing room after we lost to Uruguay and went out wasn’t somewhere anyone would want to be.

“It took me a long time to recover from that deep disappointment. But this qualifying campaign went really well. Roy changed approach to get young exciting players in and I think we’re dark horses with a chance of winning the Euros. The players have no fear.

“It’s probably the biggest job in world football being England manager because there is so much scrutiny.

“Roy is a good guy and a great manager but we have got to deliver this time.”