England manager Gareth Southgate is to recall Jack Butland for next month’s friendly internationals against Brazil and Belgium, after recent speculation all-but-confirmed the former England number one had come painfully close to the selection.

With Newcastle’s Nick Pope out injured and Aaron Ramsdale no longer an Arsenal pick, the national team’s options between the sticks have been drastically reduced to just Everton’s Jordan Pickford and Palace’s Sam Johnstone, and Rangers’ on-fire number one is now in prime position to earn the call up.

It would mark the first time since the 90s that a Rangers player has been called up to the English national side, with the last one of course being the enduring Paul Gazza Gascoigne.

It would also mark a huge boost for the SPL that Southgate is finally shedding his (understandable) snobbery (to an extent) about the Scottish top flight by picking a player from this division.

Of course there’s a caveat – his goalie situation is pretty dire, as explained earlier, and he’s down to very limited options in between the sticks, so it does offer a major opening to someone like Butland.

There’s also the fact he’s a Premier League-level player, who is a great age for a goalkeeper and very much playing at one of the UK’s biggest clubs.

And then there’s the small addon that he’s a former England international with around 10 caps already, so he’s been there and done that. The likes of Ryan Kent, Tavernier and Goldson just weren’t anywhere near that level, hence despite some occasional calls for their selection for England, they clearly fall considerably short.

But Butland doesn’t – we’re not sure if we can call him world class, but he’s not far off, and his displays for Rangers have clearly caught Southgate’s eye.

It would be a huge deal for Butland to get the call.

And now it looks like he will.