Manchester United may have made a mistake when they let Jack Butland go last summer with the former England international showing the club what they are missing at Rangers.
That is the view of Ibrox icon John Brown, backing up the point made by another blue-clad legend in Ally McCoist.
McCoist, after yet another virtuoso Jack Butland display, labelled the experienced shot-stopper one of Rangers’ ‘best signing in years’.
Brown goes one step further. He believes that Butland would walk into the starting XI of most teams south of the border, and he includes Manchester United in that.
Jack Butland outstanding after Manchester United exit
“I was always a fan. I was surprised he never got more minutes down south. When I look at the Premier League, there’s a lot of keepers down there I’d say Jack Butland is better than,” Brown, who spent nearly a decade at Ibrox until 1997, tells the Scottish Sun.
“He was at Manchester United. And, for me, he (should be) their first choice. The fact we got him is fantastic. Any club needs a quality goalkeeper, and Rangers have that.”
Butland, who joined Rangers on a free transfer last summer, failed to make even a single appearance under Erik ten Hag during a short-lived loan spell at Old Trafford from Crystal Palace.
He’s certainly making up for lost time now, however, a trophy already in the bag north of the border. Butland has barely missed a minute of Rangers’ campaign, featuring nearly 40 times and almost single-handedly keeping the Glasgow giants in the Europa League at times.
‘A trophy in the bag’ for Butland at Rangers
“Jack has been probably one of Rangers’ best players this season,” Brown adds. He’s a huge part of the backline’s success. He’s not had a great deal of minutes in the previous seasons, but you can see his quality.
“Jack’s also come into a club with 50,000 at every home game. He’s playing in Europe, going for trophies and he’s got a trophy in the bag. He has ten more years at the top because of the years he’s missed.”
Man United, after opting against keeping Butland at Old Trafford, brought in Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir from Inter Milan and Fenerbahce respectively. Onana, in particular, is starting to silence his doubters with a string of fine displays, the Cameroon international outstanding in Sunday’s massive 2-1 win at Aston Villa.
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