Chelsea target Jack Butland heading to Stoke City

It seemed clear that Birmingham City goalkeeper Jack Butland was going to end up changing clubs today, and Sky Sports is now reporting that Stoke City and Birmingham have come to an agreement that will see Butland become a Stoke player.

Sky Sources: Stoke agree deal with Birmingham for goalkeeper Jack Butland #skydeadlineday

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 31, 2013

There have been reports that Stoke are planning to leave Butland at Birmingham for the remainder of this season, and if that's the case, it would seem likely that Asmir Begovic remains at Stoke for the remainder of the season as well. Begovic would almost certainly be moving on in the summer because of this though, and Chelsea would seem like a logical landing place for the long time target.

While it would be nice to upgrade Ross Turnbull as soon as humanly possible, it doesn't become a pressing need until both of our backup goalkeepers are out of contract in June. This turn of events will probably see the goalkeeper rumors quiet down for the rest of today, but I'd expect to see us linked to Begovic repeatedly between now and the summer transfer window. For those of you that go out of your way to avoid watching Stoke City games (and few could blame you), you may now have a reason to tune in and watch.