Jack Butland on swapping the Man United bench for first team action at Rangers

Jack Butland became England’s youngest ever goalkeeper aged 19 years and 158 days. A few months later, he was off to the Premier League in a £3.5million transfer.

His meteoric rise brought predictions of future glory. But a football career, just like life, rarely travels on the one, smooth trajectory.

Butland earned the last of his nine caps aged 25. After thriving with Stoke City, he suffered injuries, loss of form and doubt from managers as the club began to flounder following relegation to the Championship.

Moving to Crystal Palace brought only 17 first-team appearances over the course of a three-year contract. For the second half of last season, he was on loan with Manchester United but didn’t get off the bench.

Even so, Butland could have stayed at Old Trafford. The option of a new deal was there. It might have included the odd outing in a domestic cup tie.

Butland, though, wanted more. The desire to recapture the buzz of regular first-team football — to play an active part in pursuing trophies and medals — led him to Rangers as a key part of Michael Beale’s summer rebuild.

Now 30, he doesn’t want his story to be dominated by those heady early days. For all that was achieved back then, Butland is adamant his best years are still to come.

‘One hundred per cent,’ he insisted. ‘And that was another part of it.

‘All right, could you be at United? Well, yes, but what would the rest of my career look like?

‘That was important to me. I wanted 30 onwards to be something l look back on as a successful period and not one that drifted away.

‘As much as I enjoyed Palace and as good as United was, I missed playing. And that’s important to me.’

An Ibrox debut may arrive on Tuesday evening against Newcastle United in the testimonial match