Well there are rumours going around that Pepe will be off in the summer...so the Butland link wouldn't surprise me. But not sure he's ready for first team football in the Pl.
I'm not sure I can see him going. There is no way Butland will come straight in to the first team. the thing is, if you look at our young plays we have defenders (Wisdom, Robinson, McClaughlan, Sama, Flanagan), we have midfielders (Shelvey, Suso, Coady) and we have forwards (Sterling, Morgan, Yesil, Sinclair, Ibe, Texeira). No keeper. Needs another midfielder.
I have little doubt that Butland would be a better option than our back-up keepers but we have three of them already in Jones, Doni and Gullacsi! IMMO, if we sign him we should loan him straight back to keep his development going
I won't argue against either point but surely we need to shift these players on before buying more...?
Who'd take Jones? No one even knows where Doni is, so can't hardly sell him either. Gulacsi would struggle to find a club too...
I think people are being harsh on Jones. Yeah, he's not great but he did a good job for us whilst Pepe was out, he never moans despite being sat on the bench every week and he can be relied on. That's what you want in a back-up keeper!
Yeah, but if Reina goes, he'd be our first choice. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. My point was that if Butland is the new backup, we'd struggle to sell Jones. So he'd just sit there....doing nothing, like Doni and like Gulacsi
Ah, in that case, we were making the same point (why sign another keeper and be lumbered with four reserves?) but in a different ways
I can't see Butland wanting to give up his 1st team place at Brum to spend 18 months + sat on his arse on your bench mate. If he arrives, then it would spell the end of the road for Reina at Anfield imo.
I'm sure Butland would look at how that panned out for those lads & be really keen to sign then Butland is in the Joe Hart class. He won't be going anywhere to play second fiddle to anyone long term.
Fair point but I doubt any of them joined us to have a career like they did! My point is that Butland will have to make that decision at some stage and in all likeliness he will have to have a period of sitting on the bench too. You say he is in Joe Hart's class, how do you know that? He's only played in the Championship!
I've seen enough of him for GB & Brum to conclude that the lad has the ability to make it at the highest level. He'll no doubt accept a short spell on the bench i.e. half a season, but longer than that? Not for me. There's been rumours for ages about Reina so this move would make sense for all parties.
I love Reina but he's not been the same since Rafa left and Woy tried (and succeeded it would seem) to ruin him. He still tries the quick release but without a pacey/physical presence up top it just doesn't work. It would be said to see him leave but if we got a decent sum for him then it would be the right thing to do IMO so long as we get a good replacement. PS...do you not think Butland would relish the chance to learn from someone like Pepe?
How much dya reckon we could get for selling Reina? I'd like to think he'd go for 15mill maybe, could still be a top keeper and, as far as the position is concerned, should be hitting his peak about now. Got at least 6 seasons left in him. Would be a brave decision to sell, unless he pushed a move through himself
IF we have to sell or he just wants to leave, I can see him going back to barca. Valdes is **** and like you said 10-15 mil probably would be his asking price. I think ( pretty sure) he started at Barca so would be a win win for him.
