Crystal Palace opinion: Should the Eagles make a move for Jack Butland?

They survived by a mere whisker but manager Roy Hodgson really has to make sure that Crystal Palace do more than that next season. The Eagles may not have the best crop of players in the world but they certainly do have a sprinkle of talented stars across their team.

From Wilfried Zaha up front, Max Meyer in the middle and Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the back, everyone has done well. But they need more than that. They need consistency and class on board, which will be very hard for a club like Palace to get.

Instead, they need to target the mere mortals, or rather players who are on the verge of doing wonderful things. However, before they do that, the first thing that Roy Hodgson has to concentrate on is his goalkeeping issues.

They have three at the moment in Wayne Hennessey, Vicente Guaita and Julian Speroni, but the latter has already announced his retirement from football. It leaves them with just Guaita and Hennessey, which is not good news.

Both goalkeepers are above the age of 30 and neither of them came even remotely close to doing well this season. While Guaita did show signs of improvement as the season wore on, Hennessey had issues off the field affect his on-field performance.

It’s one of the many reasons why the club has to make a move for Jack Butland. English news outlet Daily Star has reported that Crystal Palace are keen on a move for the £30m English international.

The 25-year-old is wasted in the Championship and given that the Potters are not doing too well, things could get worse for him. Yet, that hasn’t stopped Butland from performing, with the English international even getting a call-up to the recent England team.

This is over and above Stoke City’s form and he is easily among England’s best in his position. For Palace, what makes him perfect is the fact that he has an incredible reach and is much taller than Hennessey and Guaita, at 6’4″.

Despite being so tall, Butland is still incredibly agile and composed in the goal. The 25-year-old is very quick off his line and that will pay dividends in the long run.

Either way, Butland is a far superior option as compared to either goalkeeper that Roy Hodgson has at his disposal and a move will only help the club.

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Conclusion

Jack Butland is incredibly talented and deserves his chance to play football in the Premier League.

For Crystal Palace, however, someone like the 25-year-old will help solidify their back-line and improve their chances of winning games.