Former professional footballer and now pundit Danny Mills has said that he feels Aston Villa could certainly do worse than to capture England and Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland and he thinks that if our interest in the 26-year-old is real, we will move ‘very quickly’ to complete the deal this summer.
With Villa preparing for life back in the Premier League after our Championship Play-Off success at Wembley, optimism is high at B6 about a good year ahead and with a few deals already over the line, Butland now features quite prominently on the rumour mill.
The speculation isn’t nail on of course, given we have Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic also on our books, alongside No 1 Jed Steer, and in terms of concrete details it leant more on the fact that Stoke City didn’t enjoy a successful year in the division and Butland probably needs a move to come back into Gareth Southgate’s England plans.
Mills feels it makes sense on a number of fronts though as he spoke to Football Insider recently.
“He clearly needs to play Premier League football, needs to get himself back in the spotlight if he’s to retain his England spot. It’s a fairly easy one – it’s probably like ‘Stay with us for a season after relegation and we’ll reassess.’ He doesn’t have to move house, he stays settled, it’s an easy move for him. He’s a very, very good keeper. I can see that happening very, very quickly.”
It’s an obvious link to make given his proximity and from Stoke’s point of view on a Financial Fair Play front, whilst it’s a predictable link, it is one you can see the sense in. But it would mean two moving on.
