Rams move to sign Premier League goalkeeper on loan.

Derby County have today moved to sign England Under 21 international captain and goalkeeper Jack Butland on loan from Premier League Stoke City.

The 21-year-old shot-stopper completed the formalities of the paperwork this afternoon at the Derby County Training Centre, and he will be in contention to make his debut in Tuesday’s trip to Blackpool in the Sky Bet Championship

The Bristol-born goalkeeper’s loan deal will run for an initial 28 days.

The Rams have moved quickly to cover for the loss of first-choice custodian Lee Grant, who has been ruled out of action with a high ankle sprain sustained in the weekend’s 3-0 victory at Reading.

Head Coach Steve McClaren said: “We’re extremely pleased to welcome Jack Butland to Derby County and I would like to extend our thanks to Stoke City for agreeing to let him join us on loan.


“Jack is a promising young goalkeeper and after Lee Grant picked up an injury on Saturday, as a management team, we quickly set about identifying someone to come into the group.


“We know a lot about Jack and he is someone who Eric Steele (Derby’s Goalkeeping Coach) rates very highly.”

Butland is a graduate of Birmingham City’s Academy and he gained his first taste of competitive football during two separate loan spells at League 2 Cheltenham Town during the 2011/12 season, where he made 24 appearances in total.

His impressive form at Whaddon Road, in addition to already being part of the England Under 21 set-up, led to Butland earning a call-up to the full England squad for the 2012 European Championships and he acted as the Three Lions’ third choice goalkeeper during the tournament.

A few weeks later he represented Great Britain in the London 2012 Olympic Games, before he went on to earn his first-ever full England cap after being named in the starting XI for their 2-1 international friendly win over Italy in August 2012.

He went on to become Birmingham’s first choice goalkeeper during the 2012/13 Championship campaign and in January 2013, he joined Stoke City on a permanent basis before returning to St. Andrews for the rest of the campaign on loan.

He spent more time out on loan last season at Championship pair Barnsley and Leeds United to gain further match experience, as well as making three Premier League appearances, plus one FA Cup outing, for Stoke.

His first-team action this season has come in the Capital One Cup, starting in Stoke’s wins over Portsmouth and Sunderland in the Second and Third Rounds of the competition, while he captained England's Under 21s to qualifying for the Under 21 2015 European Championships last week, alongside Derby midfielder Will Hughes.

Tweets by @ dcfcofficial