Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Jack Butland rejects move to Chelsea after Birmingham accept £3.5m bid

• Agent says teenage keeper's priority is regular football
• Birmingham reject new Forest bid for winger Chris Burke

Jack Butland has rejected the chance to hold talks with Chelsea after Birmingham City reportedly accepted an offer of £3.5m for the teenage England goalkeeper.

Birmingham's acting chairman, Peter Pannu, admitted in December that the club could be forced to sell Butland this month as they try to cope with a financial crisis.

However, Butland, who made his international debut in England's 2-1 win over Italy in August, will only consider a move with a realistic prospect of regular football, according to his agent.

Gary Mellor told the BBC: "Jack's enjoying playing for Birmingham and he is gaining valuable experience. He will listen to what any club that meets Birmingham's asking price has to say, but playing is of paramount importance for Jack."

There does, though, remain the prospect of Chelsea loaning the player back to Birmingham should any new deal materialise.

Butland has also been linked with Liverpool, Fulham, Newcastle and Manchester City, while Southampton and Everton tried to sign him ahead of this season.

Meanwhile, Birmingham have rejected Nottingham Forest's improved offer for their winger Chris Burke while Wolverhampton Wanderers have also been thwarted in their efforts to sign Curtis Davies and Marlon King.

City rejected an initial offer of £300,000 from Forest earlier in January and the latest approach, understood to be close to £500,000, has also been turned down, with the Reds unlikely to come back in for a third time.

Birmingham have told Wolves that centre-back Davies and their leading scorer King are not available, especially when it comes to selling to a rival club at the lower end of the Championship table.


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