Stoke City cannot afford to repeat £30m transfer mistake with Mark Robins’ key man
Stoke City are blessed with one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship right now in Viktor Johansson, and while all connected to the club will want to keep him in the Potteries this summer, they must sell him if they are offered the right fee to avoid a similar situation to that of Jack Butland from years ago.
Johansson, who is Sweden’s first-choice in-between the sticks, joined Stoke from Rotherham United for a reported initial £750,000 fee, with potential add-ons taking it beyond the £1 million mark, last summer, as they beat off strong competition to bring him in not long after the 2023/24 season had ended.
His performances since he made the switch to the bet365 Stadium have been nothing short of extraordinary, and he has been able to consistently bail his side out of sticky situations this season amid genuine relegation fears. He will surely be on the radar of numerous higher-placed clubs when the summer transfer window rolls around.
The Potters’ current situation feels similar to the one they experienced while Jack Butland was on the rise as a young England international and touted to be one of the next top Premier League goalkeepers. Butland impressed for Stoke as a youngster from 2015 to 2017, but the club decided not to sell him at any point while in the top flight.
Instead, the Bristol-born shot-stopper stayed with Stoke for too long and was eventually sold to Crystal Palace in 2020 for a fee much lower than what had been mooted in years previous. The Potters cannot let the same thing happen with Johansson, particularly given their current financial woes.
Stoke could have sold Jack Butland for £30m – instead he left for £1m
Butland joined Stoke as a 19-year-old from Birmingham City in 2013 and went on to become the Potters’ number one from 2015/16 onwards. His first campaign as Mark Hughes’ first choice saw him make 35 appearances and be named as the club’s Player of the Season, despite suffering a long-term ankle injury on international duty with England in March 2016.
Butland returned to action at the end of the next campaign and continued as first choice for 2017/18 despite Lee Grant’s great performances in his absence. Hughes’ persistence with him arguably worked against the Potters that season, as he made numerous high-profile mistakes and the club were relegated to the Championship.
Stoke had been reluctant to sell Butland throughout his time at the club, but as soon as they were relegated, they should have parted ways for the greater good of his own career and their finances. They instead reportedly refused to budge from their sizeable £30m valuation of his talents in 2018, amid interest from Chelsea and Wolves, and so he remained in ST4 for their return to the second-tier.
Butland played well for the Potters in the Championship and was named as their Player of the Season after the club failed to mount a widely-expected promotion challenge. Stoke again held out for big money in the 2019 summer window, and this time Aston Villa were put off by their £25m demands.
His poor form in 2019/20 saw him dropped as number one by Nathan Jones, and despite being reinstated and playing better under Michael O’Neill, those previously interested clubs had moved on from him as an option for such a high fee.
