West Brom Albion : Ridgewell wants West Brom to make Foster's loan move from Birmingham permanent

The defender moved from the Blues in January and encouraged his former teammate to do the same, adding that he believes there is little between him and England's Joe Hart.

West Brom Albion : Ridgewell wants West Brom to make Foster's loan move from Birmingham permanent

Foster demonstrated his value to the Baggies in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Blackburn with two crucial saves and the defender, who switched from St. Andrews to the Hawthorns in January, believes he would help West Brom continue to establish themselves in the Premier League.

"I think the whole team would like to keep Ben Foster," Ridgewell told reporters.

"If we want to take this club forward, we've got to keep the likes of Ben Foster and he is a great player for us.

"I sense Ben would like to stay here. I know him well and he is settled here and hopefully the club can keep him and Albion can sort it out.

"He is a Birmingham player but it is a different team to when he played there. I'm sure Ben would like to stay here and keep playing here because he is doing really well."

Ridgewell also insisted the 29-year-old is on a similar level to England number one Joe Hart, Foster announced an indefinite rest from international football last year and is yet to announce a comeback for the Three Lions..

"England have got two great keepers in Joe Hart and Ben," Ridgewell claimed.

"I've played with them both at Birmingham and there is not much between them and they are both great keepers.

"Fozzy stopped with England for his reasons - he wanted to prolong his career after his injuries. If he keep playing like he is, hopefully he will keep going. He just wanted to concentrate on his club career and he has been fantastic."

West Brom have made good progress under Roy Hodgson, after securing their highest Premeir League finish last season, and look set for another good finish this season.

And the defender insists that mental strength is just as important as technical skill as the Baggies look to avoid being dragged inot the relegation scrap.

Ridgewell continued: "The biggest factors are not losing your head and staying together as a team and just trying to graft out as many results as you can.

"You look at all the teams and everywhere is a difficult place to go and you think, 'where are the results going to come from?'

"But the main thing is to keep the team together and fight as much as you can. If you keep doing that, and still go down, you've got to give a nod to the other teams."