England Stopper Explains Chelsea Snub But Leaves Door Open For Future Move

Despite the transfer window now being closed there will still be plenty of gossip doing the rounds in the newspapers, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest transfer rumours. Today, Jack Butland lifts the lid on rejecting Chelsea.

Jack Butland has explained the reasons behind his decision to reject a move to Chelsea in favour of a switch to Stoke City in January but left the door open for a potential move to Stamford Bridge in the future, according to the Mirror.

The 19-year-old goalkeeper has been in excellent form in recent months and was linked with a move away from cash-strapped Birmingham City during the winter transfer window. The BBC claimed Chelsea had agreed a deal to sign the England international but Butland turned down the chance to speak with the Blues in favour of sealing a deadline day move to Stoke City.

As part of the deal, Butland was sent back to Birmingham on loan for the rest of the season and will link up with his new team mates in the summer but it seems the stopper had some explaining to do when he met up with some of the Chelsea boys at England training last week.

Butland told the Mirror that a couple of the Chelsea players asked him why he rejected the chance to move to west London and the player explained that he while he’d have loved to have joined Chelsea he didn’t feel he’d be given a crack at the first team any time soon, but he did hint at a possible move to Stamford Bridge at some point in the future.

“I had a bit of an awkward situation as a couple of the Chelsea players were asking me what the situation was.

“They were completely ­understanding with what I said, and that was that Chelsea are a fantastic club and I would have loved to have said ‘yes’ to them but I didn’t feel they could guarantee me first-team ­football as early as I would like.

“I didn’t feel it was the right move now so I simply said it wasn’t for me, thank you, and maybe we can do something in the future.” Butland is quoted as saying by the Mirror.

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I really admire Butland for having the balls to turn down a move to the European champions in favour of Stoke City. Only time will tell whether it was the right decision but he’s made the choice based on football and not money, fame or trophies so you have to give him credit.

But it’s interesting to hear him admit that he told Chelsea ‘maybe we can do something in the future’. Is he waiting for Petr Cech to move on before eyeing a move to Stamford Bridge? We’ll have to wait and see…

Would Chelsea fans like to see Butland come in when Cech leaves? Get involved in the comments section below.