This story began well before Football Insider clicked their baity paws at it, but once again the Jack Butland link has surfaced with strong claims the former England international is set to swap Selhurst Park for Ibrox with a big move north this summer.
The 29-year-old 9-cap former international, with a former transfer value of well beyond £20M, hasn’t managed a single appearance this season for Manchester Utd, on loan from parent club Crystal Palace, and has made 18 club appearances in the last three years.
He’s wasted his entire late 20s at the wrong club (Palace) and is now craving a change in scenery from Man Utd and a renewed chance in football, having peaked with Stoke but having lost his place late on there somewhat, before the transfer to London.
Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin, even at this early stage, are two Rangers players whose careers came to stilting halts at their previous clubs but are finding themselves revitalised at Ibrox and their careers rebooting for sure.
Old Trafford man Butland will look to examples like those, as well as the magnitude of Rangers as a club, and very much find himself interested in that switch north when his Man Utd contract expires in a few months making him a free agent, and a lucrative one at that.
Is he good enough? Look, you don’t even get a single cap for England if you aren’t – Butland is a good goalie conceding a decent 130 goals in 87 Premier League appearances for bottom-feeding sides, while managing a very respectable 21 shut outs in those 87 matches.
He has no experience in Europe, but that’s a carrot for the Ibrox move, that Rangers can offer him that in the summer.
At his peak for Stoke he was a £20M goalie, it’s why he earned the switch to Selhurst Park, but that’s just not worked out and after a failed loan at Man Utd he’s seeking a new chance.
Rangers critically need a new goalie, and we could do a tonne worse than a 9-cap England international on a free.
It’s all down to whether Michael Beale wants him, and if he wants to come north after his Old Trafford loan ends.
Worked for Hart…