Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Stoke City and England goalkeeper has publicly lambasted the club’s for its “farcical transfer policy” after the team’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Saturday after a ten year stay in the top flight reports the BBC.
In a frank interview, Butland said that the club had signed “players you cannot rely on”, and that the “whole recruitment process needs looking at”.
His remarks would appear to reference a number of flops signed by former manager Mark Hughes, including former Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez, who managed one goal in 13 appearances for the club, and has not taken unpaid compassionate leave for the remainder of his contract with the club. Another forward Saido Berahino, signed from West Bromwich Albion in 2017 has never scored for the club and now trains with the under-23 side, as does Kevin Wimmer, an £18 million capture from Spurs last summer.
Record signing Gianelli Imbula has spent the season on loan at French club Toulouse, whilst two other big names signings, former Barcelona forwards Ibrahim Afellay and Bojan Krkic, have hardly featured at all for the side, with the latter loaned to La Liga’s Alaves this season.
Whilst his team may be heading for the Championship, Butland is unlikely to join them, with a number of Premier League clubs ready to pay good money to buy one of the best goalkeepers in England.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.