Butland has fallen sharply since Liverpool interest in bumper £40m swoop

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Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland is the subject of interest from Crystal Palace over a potential summer transfer, according to South London Press.

They report that Palace want the England international between the sticks, where at the moment, they have a number of decent options such as Wayne Hennessey and Vicente Guaita, but no outstanding ones.

The valuation quoted is £15m, which is a long way off the £40m the Daily Mirror reported back in March 2018 Liverpool were willing to pay to land Butland, before they swooped for Alisson.

That would have been a world-record at the time, eclipsing the £34.7 the Mirror report Manchester City paid for Ederson back in 2017.

The fact that Palace can now scoop up a player Jurgen Klopp was willing to spend so much on, for just £15m, may make Liverpool feel they have had a lucky escape, and the success of Alisson will only serve to increase that feeling.

Butland’s fall from grace has been fairly dramatic and has not been helped by Stoke’s inability to mount a serious promotion challenge this season after last term’s relegation to the Championship.

If Klopp is a fan of Butland, £15m for a reliable back-up to upgrade on Simon Mignolet may not be a bad deal however.

Klopp snared Xherdan Shaqiri on a bargain deal from Stoke last summer and a cut-price raid on the Bet365 Stadium for the second straight season may not be the worst idea.