Premier League Crystal Palace must have a big smile on their face after landing stopper Jack Butland from Sky Bet Championship side Stoke City. That is according to The Sun who report that the Eagles have snapped him up for a bargain basement £500,000 fee.
🧤 Welcome to Palace, Jack Butland!#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSDkhb
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) October 16, 2020
The Sun’s Dave Fraser writes that Palace moved for 27-year-old Butland and snaffled him at the bargain price of £500,000 with the former England star’s current deal set to end next summer.
Using that as leverage, Palace have not only manage to pry Butland away from the Brittania Stadium, they have also saved themselves a heap of money. It was only just over a year ago that the Potters valued Butland in the region of £23m.
Bristol-born Butland started out in football at Birmingham Citty, progressing through the youth ranks to make 46 appearances for the Blues, conceding 69 goals and keeping 10 clean sheets.
He moved on January 31 to Stoke City for a fee of £3.4m and his initial years with the club saw him make a number of loan moves to Birmingham, Barnsley, Leeds United and Derby County.
Since establishing himself as the first-choice at the club, Butland has gone on to make 168 appearances for Stoke, conceding 235 goals and keeping 50 clean sheets. 77 of those games, 115 of those conceded goals and 20 of those clean sheets have come in the Premier League during his time with the Potters.
Commenting on how delighted he was at landing Butland, Palace manager Roy Hodgson said:
“I am aware that his last spell at Stoke hasn’t been the happiest one for him but I sincerely believe that with his qualities, coming to a new club will enable him to resurrect his career and show once again what a good goalkeeper he is.”
New-signing Butland isn’t being granted a walk-on role to the starting spot and will, instead, go into competition for the #1 shirt at Selhurst Park.
