Five Reasons Jack Butland Deserves His England Start.

1. He’s arguably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League right now.

Jack Butland hasn’t looked back since being given the No.1 shirt for us (Stoke City), but we haven’t exactly given him much choice. The missing brick-wall, Ryan Shawcross, means our defence has been as chaotic as Tesco since the 5p bag charge. However that does mean Jack has had the exposure to showcase exactly what he can do, and he probably wouldn’t be getting this chance with England otherwise. But he has now, so can we have Ryan back and tighten up? Thanks.

It’s especially shown in the statistic that he’s made the most saves in the Premier League so far this season (37). Again, that’s because our defence isn’t helping him one bit, but he’s still making them. The official Stoke City Twitter account does an online vote each week to decide who was MOTM from the game at the weekend, it’s safe to say that contest has looked a bit daft most weeks.

2. He’s represented England at every age-group.

It’s not like Jack has popped up on the international scene from nowhere either, he’s been a stalwart throughout the England youth scene right from the U16s to the U21s. That also includes the U17 European Championship where he played in the final, winning that tournament for the first time in our countries history.

When a player has come through those ranks they’re ready to make the step into fully-fledged senior international football. Add this to the one cap he already has for the senior team, where he became England’s youngest goalkeeper ever, he will be relishing the chance on Monday night.

3. He wants to play football.

You may or may not know, we have recently had a goalkeeper leave the club for a bigger club where he’s unlikely to feature, yet receive a ton more money. It just so happens Begovic has got a lot of unexpected game-time. But that was not the plan one little bit.

Now when Jack signed for us he had a similar decision, he had two offers on the table. One was from us, and one was from Chelsea. He chose us hoping to shortly succeed Begovic. Cruelly, Begovic actually lasted a lot longer at the club than Jack expected - and he was loaned out to other clubs - but that shows how much he is thinking about his career, and where he’s going to be able to actually play football.

4. He’s a genuinely nice bloke.

I’m not by any way saying that someone should get an England call-up just because they’re a nice person, or we would of had Danny Ings’ first cap a long time ago (he’s really nice, look it up).

But it’s just good to see a good person get what they deserve, Jamie Vardy has recently got his first England caps - and I’m pretty sure he’s not a nice fella - especially when it comes to casinos at 2am.

Whereas I met Jack recently, it was at the FIFA16 launch and he was getting dragged around by all sorts of different people needing him to do things he was scheduled for. But he gladly gave me an interview for The Bear Pit TV (Stoke City’s unofficial YouTube channel, check it out) and posed for a picture before being whisked away. You don’t get that from a lot of normal people when they’re busy, never mind a footballer.

5. He will be England’s future No.1

There is no doubt in my mind that once Joe Hart’s time is up that Jack Butland will be the man to replace him. I can’t think of another English keeper that’s on the same level as Joe and Jack, putting in impressive performances week in, week out.

It pains me to say it, but when that time comes he probably won’t be at Stoke either. If his form and career path continues then he will need to be playing at the very top to be England’s No.1. At least the fact he’s English means we should receive a hefty fee.

But for now, I’ll enjoy everything he does for us, as there’s plenty left yet. I’ll also be cheering on every time he makes a save on Monday night, let’s hope it’s a better performance from England than the last time a Stoke player was given a game…

P.S. Ryan is back soon, Roy. Have a look, eh.