Stoke City signing Jack Butland had to explain snubbing Chelsea to several of his England teammates last week.

Butland is yet to join up properly with Tony Pulis's side, as he is loaned back to Birmingham City for the rest of the season.

But he had an early catch up with Ashley Cole, Gary Cahill and Frank Lampard as the Three Lions faced Brazil last week.

Butland explained: "I had a bit of an awkward situation as a couple of the Chelsea players were asking me what the situation was.

"They were completely ­understanding with what I said, and that was that Chelsea are a fantastic club and I would have loved to have said 'yes' to them but I didn't feel they could guarantee me first-team ­football as early as I would like.

"I didn't feel it was the right move now so I simply said it wasn't for me, thank you, and maybe we can do something in the future."