JACK BUTLAND will undergo a medical on Thursday ahead of a loan move to Manchester United, according to reports.
The Crystal Palace keeper, 29, is expected to join Erik ten Hag’s squad until the end of the season.
He only has six months left on his existing deal with the Eagles, although the club do have the option to extend his contract by a further year.
Man Utd are keen to bring in a back-up to David de Gea after Newcastle recalled Martin Dubravka – with Tom Heaton and Nathan Bishop their only other options.
They did consider recalling their own loanee Dean Henderson, 25, but ended up determining the best move was to let him stay at Nottingham Forest.
And according to The Athletic, Butland, who has a house in Manchester from his time at Stoke, is preparing for his Man Utd medical on Thursday.
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He has not played any Premier League football so far this season and only featured 10 times in the league for Palace since joining in 2020.
The club’s No1 Vicente Guaita has largely kept him out of the first team since he arrived for £1million.
However, Butland has been unavailable for selection for much of the current campaign due to a fractured finger.
He spent two seasons as Stoke’s first-choice keeper in the Premier League between 2015 and 2018.
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And he has also been capped nine times by England – the last of which came four and a half years ago.
He became the youngest ever keeper to represent the Three Lions in 2012 at 19 years 158 days.
He has also gone to two major tournaments – Euro 2012 and the 2018 World Cup.
Butland, if signed in time, could make his debut in United’s FA Cup game against Everton on Friday or their Carabao Cup clash with Charlton on Tuesday.
Man Utd have been linked with a number of top keepers such as Porto’s Diogo Costa and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Yann Sommer.
But these are seen as potential replacements for De Gea in the summer as his contract is set to expire.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
