
Share
27th May 2018
12:32pm BST

“I looked at the two keepers at the start of the year and thought ‘Simon Mignolet is a good shot stopper, he’s not great on crosses, not great on distribution and I’m not sure how he controls the back four, though it is more difficult now because you have different nationalities in front of you. ‘ “And then I looked at the German lad and I thought, ‘Good looking lad (laughter from audience) but I’m not sure what his strengths are. “I didn’t look at him as a great shot stopper I didn’t look at him as someone who commanded his box. His distribution was probably better than Mignolet’s."
"So, obviously Mignolet made mistakes, the other fella he came in, he made mistakes. And to be fair to Jurgen, he’s obviously decided, ‘He’s not for me and the other lad is going to have a chance at the end of the season.’
“Now to be fair, the last four weeks I’ve seen some improvement in him. I still think he doesn’t do right but he’s better than what he was.
“But then I’ve seen him against West Brom, and the number of bad decisions he made that could have cost the team.
“So I still think to be a team that has got a chance of winning the league title is that we need a top quality goalkeeper.
“I’d go with Jack Butland of Stoke. I’ve known Jack since he was 15. I’ve worked with him since he was 16.
"If ever I saw somebody who was focused on being the England goalkeeper, or being a top goalkeeper from a young age it was him.
“He’s one of these lovely people ... when you are talking to people, it’s great when they look you in the eye and you know they are taking it in, and they want to learn from experienced people.
“From day one with Jack he looked me in the eye and said, ‘C'mon, feed me information. I want to get better. Give me more information."
Butland said that his primary focus at present is on next month's World Cup in Russia and that his club future is ultimately undecided at this point.
“I’m contracted to Stoke,” Butland told the Telegraph. “I’m really looking forward to this summer and the World Cup is the main part of that.
“What will be will be, I don’t have anything in the pipeline and there’s no focus on that at the minute.
“The most important thing for me is being part of a successful England squad and being as big a part of it as I can. That’s my only goal right now.”Explore more on these topics: