A potential ray of hope for the Potters faithful is Jack Butland’s recent desire to reclaim his place as Stoke City’s first choice goalkeeper.

The Stoke and England 'keeper has been out of action for nearly a year now following a horrific ankle injury while playing an international game against Germany last March. Having missed the 2016 European Championships in France and the majority of the 2016/2017 Premier League campaign, Butland is eager to resume playing football for the Potters.

Butland eager to reclaim starting spot

The current Stoke goalkeeper, Lee Grant, is doing well in goal for Stoke in the absence of Jack Butland. Having kept nine clean sheets in 26 appearances to date, the replacement keeper is clearly showing a competitive attitude towards keeping his position.

However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for Grant following a recent blunder at the Bet365 Stadium against Chelsea last week which saw the Potters drop three points. The goalkeeping error will probably be leaving fans anxious and excited for Butland's return to the first-team the coming months.

Butland is a promising young 'keeper who it appears not only holds the admiration of fans but of the Stoke players too. In a BBC Radio Five Live interview with Stoke City player Charlie Adam, the midfielder praised the recovering keeper commenting that he’s a “young promising keeper who can play with both feet” and that he’s “as good as Joe Hart”.

Butland returns to first-team training

Easily the most joyous news for Stoke fans is Butland’s involvement in first team training once again. His recent tweet expressed his delight to resume football again with Butland himself commenting “I’m getting more confident with it by the day! Not long now.”

This exciting news for Potters fans will be sure to lift the spirits after the narrow defeat to Antonio Conte’s dominant Chelsea side. With Butland working his way through the ranks again, it may not be long before we see the Stoke goalkeeper back between the posts in the Premier League.

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