As Gareth Southgate prepared to name his England squad, Rangers fans had a keen Jack Butland eye on the announcement.
The Rangers goalkeeper has been a revelation at the club since joining in the summer and was a worthy recipient of the Rangers Player of the Year award.
But despite the goalkeeper’s heroics north of the border, England manager Gareth Southgate has opted against Jack Butland joining his Euro 2024 squad in Germany.
It sends an ominous message to the Rangers stopper – who has been quite clear about his England ambitions – and as a result we should probably brace for what happens next.
Butland England sends Rangers message
The subject of Premier League interest as early as January, it’s clear that if Butland still harbours any ambitions of getting back into the Three Lions set-up, he will need to be competing down south.
Whilst you might be thinking that is quite an easy assessment to make, the conditions of Jack Butland’s England snub certainly suggest so.
If every single England goalkeeper had been fit and firing, perhaps an England call-up would’ve been a sizeable long shot.
But with injuries impacting several keepers south of the border, including Newcastle’s Nick Pope and Crystal Palace’s Sam Johnstone, Butland still missed out on the call.
What’s worse is that Gareth Southgate actually attended the recent 3-3 Old Firm draw with Celtic and opted against bringing Butland to Germany.
Instead Southgate opted to include Aaron Ramsdale, who has played one Premier League game for Arsenal since November, and James Trafford, who was dropped by Burnley in March after a succession of goalkeeping errors.
The other goalkeepers in the 33-man provisional squad for the tournament in Germany are Jordan Pickford of Everton and Dean Henderson of Crystal Palace.
Will goalkeeper consider Rangers future?
The England snub wasn’t just a slap in the face for Jack Butland, but also for Rangers and Scottish football.
What it means is that the popular Rangers goalkeeper is going to have to make a big call on his career if he is serious about getting back into the England team.
Given the lack of options, and Butland’s stellar form in Glasgow, the year’s Euro 2024 snub is evidence that so long as the goalkeeper plies his trade in Scotland, he will likely never be recalled to the England set-up.
Rangers fans love him and, for whilst no-one wants the keeper to leave, the £15m-rated stopper is one of the only sellable assets at the club.
Recently reaffirming his commitment to Rangers, could that be about to change after learning of Euro 2024 disappointment?
We reckon there are few better choices for the role of Rangers captain going forward but one wonders if the situation with England could turn the stopper’s head.
Whilst Euro 2024 has passed Butland by, the 31-year-old is still young enough to make the 2026 World Cup in USA, Mexico & Canada.
Perhaps it’ll have to take a change of club, or a change of England manager, if Butland is to stand a chance of making it.
