West Ham must stay away from Stoke City’s Butland
With Lukasz Fabianski being 35-years-old, it would only be natural for the club to start looking for a replacement. One option the club could look at is Jack Butland, but the club should keep clear of the Englishman.
Fabianski has started to show signs of declining in this season, errors costing the club points away at Liverpool highlighted this. It could be time for West Ham to look for. a replacement and there are plenty of options around.
The Hammers have two very promising goalkeepers at the club in Nathan Trott and Joseph Anang, the two could be given a run of games in the first team soon. If the club decides to go down the route of bringing in someone new there are better options than Jack Butland.
The English shot-stopper was once one of the most promising prospects around. Butland put in. brilliant performances as a teenager at Birmingham and received an international call-up during his time in the Premier League at Stoke City.
Butland seemed to have the world at his feet before Stoke’s relegation in 2018. The now 27-year-old should be coming up to his peak, but instead finds himself slugging it out in the bottom half in the Championship.
Many people thought that the Potters had played a masterclass when they managed to keep hold of Butland. With Butland between the sticks, they thought be fighting their way back into the Premier League with him in goal.
Alas, this has not been the case at all. Butland has become a liability for the Potters in the last couple of seasons, making a number of high-profile mistakes. Butland has seen his save percentage fall dramatically, Butland has only saved 58% of shots faced this season.
The Englishman has also averaged conceding 1.5 goals per game in the last season. This has led to Stoke only keeping clean sheets in 24% of their league games this season. If West Ham is to invest in a new goalkeeper, then they should look for someone who has better stats then Butland.
Stoke would also want to command a big fee for the goalkeeper, based on his reputation from his time in the Premier League. Butland’s value on TransferMarkt.com is almost £6 million, just under what the Hammers paid for Fabianski, and they would not receive the same value from Butland.
Butland is the exact type of player that the club should’ve trying to avoid signing, especially as he is not the prospect he once was. There are plenty of other options available that will provide better value for money in terms of wages and could provide more longevity to the position.