Jack Butland

Coming to Stoke was a chance for me to develop and take my game to the next level.

I've dealt with bigger things than the odd performance, dealt with a hell of a long time out of the game from an injury which shouldn't have kept me out for that long. I've had to deal with fears of not playing again, I'm a bigger man for it and I will be better for it in the future.

You want to make an impact and show what you're about.

Regardless of what happens, I want to be part of a successful England team and if I have to swallow my pride and disappointment at not being the number one, then I've got to do that for us to be successful and obviously to help whoever is in goal perform at their best.

I want to test myself, playing with the best and against the best. I can do that at international level, so that's my target and what I want to reach.

If you get a career-threatening injury your career is done and you need something to fall back on. But if it wasn't for football I would have played rugby, if it wasn't rugby it would have been basketball and I would have just gone through all the sports.

My ambitions are to be the Stoke number one and England number one, but there are other things I want to achieve in my career as well.

If I could wish to steal anyone's attributes whose would it be? Good question. Maybe not a specific attribute, but if I could replicate the longevity of Buffon's career I'd be a happy man.

I learnt at the Euros that that is the level I want to be at. That is where I want to be. The standard of the strikers there was top class. That is where I want to be for a long period of my career.

The Champions League has always been a target of mine. I do want to play at the top.

Whether you play or whether you're on the bench, or however it may be, at some point in your career you will be one of those three roles. You will either be a young, up-and-coming goalkeeper watching the experienced one, you'll either be on the bench or you'll be in goal yourself.

All I can focus on is playing as many games as I can at the highest level. If that leads me to the World Cup, then brilliant. It's certainly a target of mine.