Butland: I grew up watching United and wore the shirts
After it was announced that Martin Dubravka would be returning to Newcastle after his loan stint, which ended in a poor performance against Burnely in the Leage Cup, Manchester United have today announced that Jack Butland has joined our goalkeeping ranks.
He has previously played for Birmingham and Stoke, as well as several loan spells elsewhere, before signing for Crystal Palace in 2020 where he has made 17 first team appearances.
Butland has spoken about his delight over being a United player, a team he supported as a boy, claiming the move is like a fairytale for him.
I am over the moon. It has been a whirlwind few days but to call yourself a Manchester United player, is pretty awesome and I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet. It’s arguably the best club in the world, it’s a club I grew up watching as a kid. I had the shirts, my name and number seven on the back, even though I didn’t end up as a winger. It’s always been a bit of a fairytale thing for me and the opportunity to come here, in the sort of upturn that club has sort of had after a difficult few years, you could say. With the history, the power and the presence the club still has, there is never a bad time to join Manchester United. I think things seem to be progressing in a very pleasing direction. What an opportunity it is to be a part of that. I remember growing up in Bristol at the time, the football teams weren’t exactly reaching the heights of Man United at the time. I remember when I was six years old in 1999, all you could see on the TV was United and what a season that was. That was my first real visions of that fairytale football and United was it. That was sort of where it began for me and the number seven was really Beckham-related, but I don’t really have that free-kick ability like him. I ended up with the gloves on
Butland has revealed it was looking likely that the loan move would take place last summer but he broke his hand in a pre-season friendly against United.
There had sort of been rumblings all year, they started in the summer. Then, ironically, I broke my hand playing against United in Australia on the pre-season tour which put a bit of a stopper to that. I have really just focused on getting fit again and then here we are. The last sort of week, it’s bubbled up again and the contact was there. The opportunity then became an option and we took it.
Butland has outlined his aims for the months ahead, with him wanting to help contribute in bringing success back to United.
To succeed. I think that’s what the club is trying to do again and to be a winning team again. Having spoken to the manager, he is very much about being a group collective and everyone playing a part. I believe I can bring something to the team, on and off the pitch, in whatever way I can, and it’s about being at the business end of the season and being a Man United player is about winning trophies and winning things. Hopefully, that’s the direction, it feels that’s the direction the club is heading in and, yeah, to be a part of that would be special and that’s ultimately the achievement for all of us that are a part of that.
The biggest moment in his was making his England debut, breaking a record that had stood since 1888, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to ever play for England.
My England debut was an iconic one for me. That day, I became the youngest goalkeeper to play for England, which took a while to set in. Thankfully, that record still stands and hopefully it stands for a very, very long time. It came at a time where, like I said, I was on that trend and things were just happening and it was something that took a while for me to process. I would have to say my England debut, for sure.
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