As reported earlier, Rangers are interested in Arnaud Bodart, and the interest in Standard Liege’s stopper is based on the very real expectation Jack Butland may leave this summer.
So let’s look at this in more detail.
The simple part here is Butland loves life in Scotland, has loved Rangers and has cherished winning his first piece of career silverware. He stands to potentially win another couple of trophies this season if all is pure and holy.
Butland is also grateful to Rangers for giving him the platform he now has – he was nowhere at Crystal Palace, even less at loan club Manchester United, and his stock in the game had completely plummeted. He was in nowhere land. So he is immensely thankful for his spell at Rangers for restoring his standing in football.
But you knew there was a big But with Butland:
He really, REALLY wants to go to Germany with England, really would adore playing for his country, and having had a taste of it earlier in his career, feels he’s hitting prime age to be a serious choice between the sticks for Gareth Southgate’s men.
And we’re all aware of the rejected bid from Premier League side Nottingham Forest in January, with a modest £5M submitted for the 31-year-old from ex-Rangers Sporting Director Ross Wilson.
He and his club knew Rangers would reject it out of hand, and its purpose was to unsettle Butland and make him completely aware PL clubs were interested, and to notify him his performances and profile at Rangers had changed his standing down south.
That has turned his head, simple as that, and while in theory he’d have been happy to stay at Rangers for a long time, the England angle has got louder and PL clubs have got closer.
Of course, there’s no question of his displays dipping, he’s exceptionally professional and will give all that he has.
So where does this leave us?
Butland now has a stock value of around £15M-£20M, in at least that Rangers will expect that amount from any bids.
Of course, the initial bids will be £5M-£10M, because no club comes straight in immediately with the asking price, very rarely anyway.
But Rangers also know crucially an Alfredo Morelos situation CAN NEVER be repeated, where the club eventually booted out £16.5M and ended up losing him for free under Freedom of Contract.
If Rangers get a strong bid this summer, they will be already tempted for sure. Anything above £10M and it’s money the club will be reticent to dismiss. There’s playing strong arm but there’s also cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It all depends ultimately on three factors:
What bids come in.
How strong the offer personally to Butland is.
How much of a chance to go to Germany he has as a Rangers player.
And we’ll find out this summer where that lies.