“A serious statement from Boro” – Middlesbrough eyeing move for Premier League player: The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

With Joe Lumley now out on loan at Reading, Middlesbrough are looking for a new goalkeeper.

One name that has been linked with a move to the Riverside Stadium in recent days is Crystal Palace keeper Jack Butland.

As per Alan Nixon via Patreon, Butland is now on the shortlist of names Boro are considering bringing into the club this summer.

Butland is allowed to leave Palace on loan with Sam Johnstone reportedly incoming.

With that being said, we asked three of our writers at FLW for their thoughts on a potential Butland move to Teesside and whether or not it would be a good signing for the club.

I think it could be.

Butland is a very good goalkeeper but obviously his confidence and form has been a little bit up and down in recent years.

Even so, there is no doubting the ability that he does have and I would expect him to do well for Boro if he joined, with Chris Wilder instilling real belief in him.

There’s obviously an opening for a new goalkeeper on Teesside after Joe Lumley’s move to Reading and I think Butland is actually one of the better options Boro could get, providing that he does find form and underline his class there.

It’s obvious that Middlesbrough need to recruit a goalkeeper and the surprise is that it’s taken Chris Wilder until his second transfer window to get serious about getting someone in.

Jack Butland would be a serious statement from Boro, too.

There’s no denying that Butland’s career hasn’t quite gone the way we expected when he was younger, yet for a Championship club chasing