Jack Butland

Jack Butland

Jack Butland is a goalkeeper who plays for Crystal Palace and the England national team. Butland began his career with Birmingham City, and made his debut in the Football League in September 2011 while on loan to Cheltenham Town. He was transferred to Stoke City in January 2013 for a fee of £3.3million. He spent seven seasons at Stoke, winning their player of the year award twice. He became the youngest goalkeeper to play for the senior England team in August 2012. He is expected to be the club’s first-choice goalkeeper for the next five years.

About Jack Butland in brief

Summary Jack ButlandJack Butland is a goalkeeper who plays for Crystal Palace and the England national team. Butland began his career with Birmingham City, and made his debut in the Football League in September 2011 while on loan to Cheltenham Town. He was transferred to Stoke City in January 2013 for a fee of £3.3million. He spent seven seasons at Stoke, winning their player of the year award twice. He became the youngest goalkeeper to play for the senior England team in August 2012. He joined Crystal Palace in October 2020, and is expected to be the club’s first-choice goalkeeper for the next five years. Butlands is also a keen rugby player, and has played for Bristol City and Clevedon United. He has been scouted by more than 52 clubs in his early career, including Southampton, Leeds United, Derby County, and West Bromwich Albion. He also played for the England under-17 and under-20 teams. He made his Premier League debut for Stoke in January 2014. He had loan spells with Leeds United and Derby County in 2014 before he became Stoke’s number one in 2015–16. He then spent time out on loan at Barnsley before he made his league debut in January 2015. He is also the first choice goalkeeper for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He played for England at UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He won the Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 2009–10 season. He signed his first professional contract, of two-and-a-half years, as soon as he turned 17 in March 2010.

He began a two-year scholarship in Birmingham City’s youth academy when he left school in 2009. He went straight into the starting eleven to make his Football League debut at home to Macclesfield Town on 10 September 2011, displacing Scott Brown who had until then made 107 consecutive starts for the club. He was given a first-team squad number before the Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers as cover, in case Ben Foster’s injury or Colin Doyle’s illness prevented either of them taking part in the match. He reached the last few matches of Birmingham’s 2011–12 season as the bench for the semi-finals of the FA Cup. During the close season, Birmingham were reported to have turned down a bid of £6million for the player from Southampton, newly promoted to Premier League. He later signed a new contract with Birmingham to expire in June 2015. In February 2012, Butland rejoined Cheltonham on a youth loan until the end of the season. Over his two spells with Chelton, he conceded 26 goals from 24 League Two appearances, and was regularly scouted by bigger clubs. He finished his loan spell with seven clean sheets from his twelve appearances. In November 2012, he was short-listed for November’s League Two Player of the Month award, and finished his League Two season with seven goals from his 12 appearances.