Liverpool reportedly eye up surprise swoop for £8m man allegedly wanted by West Ham

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Liverpool could make a surprise move to sign alleged West Ham target Jack Butland according to a report from Football Insider.

In other news…Report: West Ham are likely to try and sign £25m ace before transfer deadline

The Athletic claimed back in August that the Hammers could test the waters and make an offer for the Stoke goalkeeper.

According to a report from Sky Sports, the Potters are prepared to sell the 27-year-old for just £8 million.

West Ham boss David Moyes needs to bring a centre-back, a central midfielder, a left wing-back and a striker to the London Stadium before next Friday’s deadline.

Because of our need to strengthen in all of those positions, our weakness in the goalkeeping department seems to have been overlooked.

West Ham have plenty of competition between the sticks. Lukasz Fabianski is the club’s undisputed number one. Darren Randolph is the Pole’s number two, with talented youngsters Joseph Anang and Nathan Trott waiting in the wings.

Fabianski’s form has been suspect since returning from injury, however. Darren Randolph is average at best and Trott and Anang are both far from proven at Premier League level.

So the addition of another goalkeeper wouldn’t be the strangest of moves from the Hammers. But Moyes might just have his work cut out if he does indeed want to sign Butland, with Football Insider claiming that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is keen to bring the 27-year-old to Anfield.

The Reds manager is clearly keen to add some more cover in the goalkeeping department. Alisson Becker’s injury has threatened to derail Liverpool’s title defence.

And last weekend’s 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa may have just forced the Merseyside outfit to act.

Butland is not the goalkeeper he once was. But he is still only 27. The Stoke stopper has plenty of years left ahead of him. And if Butland manages to rediscover the form he was displaying consistently three years ago or so, he could be a decent addition for Liverpool.

And although signing a new goalkeeper is not a priority for West Ham, missing out on the Stoke man could be viewed as somewhat of a shame for the east London outfit.