Kevin Phillips has suggested that Jack Butland is not even one of the top goalkeepers in the Championship at the moment after a series of errors in recent campaigns, as quoted by Football Insider.

The same publication has reported that Liverpool are interested in the player, though the Liverpool Echo has said on Sunday that those claims are unfounded, and you can perhaps understand why when you consider Phillips' comments and his form in recent years.

The former Sunderland and Birmingham City striker said:

“Over the past two years Jack has been far too inconsistent. When I worked with him he made far too many mistakes.

“For me, he has fallen right down the pecking order of Championship goalkeepers.

“Jack possibly had his head turned a few years ago and has taken his eye off the ball a little bit in recent seasons.

“Look what happened to Joe Hart, how quickly he faded away. I think it is a similar scenario with Jack.”

The Verdict

Adrian has had his struggles of late for Liverpool but Butland has likely made more mistakes in recent years and has certainly dropped off of a cliff form wise for Stoke.

He's not even managing to get into the Potters' side on the regular under Michael O'Neill and though Jurgen Klopp has signed players from the likes of Hull and Southampton in recent seasons and made them into world stars, it would be some ask turning Butland around so quickly - particularly with the suggestion being that he'd come in for the Everton game next weekend.

Phillips obviously thinks he's struggling at the moment and the challenge for him right now is to try and rediscover the form he had once when he was challenging for the England jersey.