Stoke's Jack Butland Reveals Expert Advice From England's World Cup Winning Legend Gordon Banks

Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland has revealed details of his conversations with former England stopper Gordon Banks.

The duo have become close since Butland emerged as Stoke's first choice choice, and Banks has backed him to establish himself as England's first choise.

Butland, who made a sooner than expected return against Swansea on Saturday after breaking a finger last month, has admitted speaking to Banks is highly beneficial.

"Gordon is amazing," he said, quoted by ESPN. "I speak to him every other week nearly. He's always got my corner. He's a great person to have on my side.

"He called me after I broke my finger. We don't have technical chats, we just have a nice chat.

"We've had chats about his England career and we've spoken about the World Cup back then. But he is really eager to know what it's like nowadays and what my routine is like.

"I couldn't really get a word in because he wants to know what we get up to as goalkeepers now in training and everything like that, but maybe next time I can ask him a little bit more about his stuff without him leading the conversation.''

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Butland picked up his injury on England duty, and he has stressed the difficulty that comes with missing games for club and country.

"To miss out on playing for your country sucks,'' he said. "Then that carried on into missing games for Stoke as well so it's disappointing and not great timing, but hopefully I'll have a little bit more luck now going into the rest of the season and hopefully get myself in the squad for the summer.

"Injuries are injuries and touch wood I've never had too many. I had a horrible one with my ankle, which wasn't my fault and was prolonged with mistakes from the outside, but I'm back where I want to be now.

"I never feel like I'm miles away, I'm just doing what I can do and hopefully I'll get the nod.''