Rangers are reportedly set to sign goalkeeper Jack Butland – a player Steven Gerrard once wanted at Liverpool.
This has been a confusing week when it comes to rumours about Butland to Rangers.
Claims from the Daily Mail on Monday suggested that Rangers had registered an interest in signing Butland last week but were looking elsewhere.
That report claimed that Rangers were turning their attentions to a keeper abroad instead.
Yet just hours later, The Scottish Sun reported that Butland is ‘on the brink’ of signing for Rangers.
The Crystal Palace goalkeeper is currently on loan at Manchester United but is likely to move on this summer.
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Rangers fans probably still don’t really know what to believe, but we will back The Sun’s report for now.
Steven Gerrard wanted Jack Butland at Liverpool
If Rangers really are going to sign Butland then maybe Michael Beale will have called up former Gers boss Steven Gerrard.
Agent Gary Mellor once told Tribal Football that Gerrard wanted Butland to be signed by Liverpool.
Mellor claimed that Liverpool’s former managing director Ian Ayre told him of how Gerrard really wanted Butland at Anfield.
Ayre allegedly stated that Gerrard came back from Euro 20212 dazzled by Butland and the goalkeeper was the one player he urged Liverpool to sign.
The Reds never struck that deal though and Stoke City were able to swoop in and sign Butland from Birmingham City in 2013.
“Obviously it was well documented that we turned down Chelsea,” Mellor said. “We turned down other top-four teams; there probably wasn’t any of the big six that didn’t show an interest.”
“I had a meeting with Liverpool about Jack, and Ian Ayre said the only player Steven Gerrard has ever picked up the phone and called them to sign was Jack when he was in the England squad in Poland and Ukraine last summer. That shows how highly thought of he is, and I think Stoke have got an absolute steal,” he added.
Fast forward some 10 years and Butland could now end up joining Gerrard’s former club in Rangers.
Butland never quite fulfilled his potential but the Manchester United loanee could be the right man for Rangers as they look for the heir to Allan McGregor.
Beale and Gerrard will surely still be close after so many years together at Liverpool, Rangers and Aston Villa.
If Beale has called up Gerrard for an opinion about Butland, the feedback may well have been hugely positive.