Angus Gunn’s wages are making it difficult for him to secure a move away from Southampton, while a deal to bring in Stoke City’s Jack Butland on deadline day looks unlikely, according to the Mail.
While Butland is still in the midst of the kind of dramatic fall from grace that appears to come knocking for almost every England international goalkeeper, two miserable years in the Championship have not affected his reputation in the eyes of many a Premier League club.
Liverpool have been linked, while Crystal Palace are hoping to tie up a last-gasp deal for a man valued at £30 million as recently as 2018.
The Mail reports that Southampton were keen too, hoping to bring in Butland in a swap deal that would see the seldom-seen Gunn go in the other direction.
But, after failing to come to an agreement with Stoke about how the agreement would be arranged, the chances of the former Birmingham City starlet swapping Staffordshire for the South Coast today look slim.
It remains to be seen, meanwhile, whether Gunn or fellow goalkeeper Fraser Forster will be playing first-team football between now and January.
Both are behind Alex McCarthy in Southampton’s pecking order and, according to the Mail, their hefty wages are proving to be a substantial stumbling block for potential buyers.
Fraser produced arguably the finest season of his career during a double-winning spell at Celtic in 2019/20 but is now at real risk of spending the next three months on the sidelines.
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