It has been 99% confirmed Jack Butland WILL get his England call up, likely in Aaron Ramsdale’s place, after Sky Sources announced national manager Gareth Southgate is to include him for a recall five years after his last call up.
With the squad set to be revealed around 2PM, Butland’s name is set to be in there, with Newcastle’s Nick Pope out injured and Ramsdale having completely lost his place at Arsenal.
This means Butland will form a three-man goalkeeper pool with first choice Jordan Pickford and Sam Johnstone the other options.
It’s pretty abundant that Butland is by far the best choice in between the sticks for England, and time will tell if this call up will actually see him capped, because Pickford is at best good and mostly mediocre, while Johnstone is about as average as it gets.
Butland is playing for one of the highest-pressure clubs in the UK, and in the Europa League at that – his performance in the first leg v Benfica did not go unnoticed.
Ultimately, he is thriving at this kind of pressure, and while we would be the first to admit that international football is much higher than the SPL or indeed even the Europa League, Butland is clearly coping with the pressure of Rangers and has history for coping with the pressure of playing for England.
Indeed, Butland has three clean sheets in his 9 caps, just 4 goals conceded total – he is evidently capable at that level.
Admittedly, 7 of his 9 caps were all friendlies, but in the two meaningful matches, both, curiously, against Lithuania, he kept clean sheets.
Long story short, he’s capable, and he should be formally announced today, making him the first Rangers player to get the call for England since 1997.
A long time coming.