Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Liverpool And Others Warned Off Butland

Birmingham City manager Lee Clark has declared that he has no intention of selling goalkeeper Jack Butland to Liverpool or any other club.

Liverpool have been linked with a £7.5 million move for the 19-year-old, who became England's youngest-ever goalkeeper when he made his debut against Italy in Berne on Wednesday.

Butland, who went to Euro 2012 with England, was also Team GB's first-choice goalkeeper during the Olympics.

The goalkeeper has limited experience at domestic level; he only made his Birmingham debut on Saturday, having played 24 times on loan at League Two Cheltenham last season.

His swift rise to prominence, though, has attracted the attention of Premier League scouts. He put in a solid performance as Birmingham drew 1-1 with Charlton in the Championship on Saturday.

And Clark is adamant that the teenager will be staying put for now, as will highly-rated 18-year-old winger Nathan Redmond.

"We've got no intentions of letting the young players go," Clark said. "The likes of Jack Butland and Nathan Redmond are the future of the club.

"If we were to cash in on them now, we'd be doing ourselves a disservice. Once they've got another year or two of experience, they'll be worth huge amounts of money."

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