Danny Mills has urged Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland to make a move away from the Bet365 Stadium during the January transfer window.

Butland has endured a difficult first half of the season having failed to secure a move away from the club during the summer, with the keeper making some high profile mistakes during the first few months of the campaign, including allowing two efforts which should have been comfortably saved through his body during a 3-1 defeat at Preston in August.

The England international’s poor form eventually saw him frozen out of the side by Nathan Jones in his last few games in charge, but Butland has managed to reclaim his place back in the Potters’ starting line-up since Michael O’Neill took charge of the club.

However, Butland has been linked with a move away from the club in January, with West Ham United interested in securing a potential move for him, which could leave the Potters with a decision to make over whether to cash in on the keeper in the winter window.

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Speaking to the Football Insider, Mills urged Butland to make a move away from Stoke to help him re-find his best form and get his career back on track, saying: "He was England’s No.1 at one point, he’s a big physical presence, he has made some high-profile mistakes hence why he has slipped away from the England scene and down into the Stoke scene.

"But of course, he is undoubtedly a solid goalkeeper and sometimes you just need a change just because it resets you.

"It resets your confidence, it resets your belief in your self. Suddenly you have different surroundings, different regime and overnight you rediscover your form."

The Verdict

Butland was seemingly hoping to secure a move away from Stoke during the summer transfer window, and having failed to secure a move back to the Premier League it looked as though his mind was elsewhere during the opening months of the campaign, which saw his form take a dramatic dip for the Potters.

The keeper possess undoubted quality and he has been a key performer at Stoke during his time at the club, but were the Potters to receive an offer for him in January it could prove to good to turn down given he has made a number of high profile errors so far this term which have cost vital points.

Butland does deserve some credit for managing to recover and respond to being left out of the starting line-up, coming back into the side under O’Neill and showing signs of getting back to the levels he is capable of reaching, and if Stoke did allow him to leave in January they would need to find a quality replacement.