Report: Jack Butland to Villa is off

After a month of speculation, it appears that Jack Butland's potential move to Aston Villa is off.

We foresaw this in our latest transfer roundup.

Stoke City have resisted a number of low-ball offers from various football clubs and look all but set to keeper their number one goalkeeper unless their steep, but fair, asking price of £25 million is met.

The England international had been pursued by Aston Villa in the early stages of the summer transfer window - but with such a high fee it seems that Villa have pulled the plug and spent their money elsewhere - namely on Tyrone Mings.

Butland would have been a fantastic buy for Villa, but there are other goalkeeping options. Tom Heaton, Joe Hart and Alex McCarthy probably represent better value for money than Butland right now. While Aston Villa do have cash to burn, they do need to think about smart buys. £25 million on a goalkeeper is a luxury for Villa - who have two first-choice goalkeepers already in Jed Steer and Ørjan Nyland.

Butland would be a quality addition, and a move could still happen - later - but for now this deal is dead.