Jack Butland is determined to prove his worth at Stoke after returning from a fourth loan spell away from the club.
Many had expected Asmir Begovic to depart the Potteries after the highly rated England Under-21s captain arrived from Birmingham in a 3.5 million-pound deal.
Two years on, though, the Bosnia-Herzegovina international remains at the Britannia Stadium, severely restricting Butland's match time at City.
The 21-year-old has spent time on loan during that period with Birmingham, Barnsley, Leeds and, most recently, Derby, but is now back at Stoke and eager to usurp Begovic.
"I want to play games," Butland told Press Association Sport. "Obviously I had a really good spell at Derby, but I've come back now.
"I am really going to try and put pressure on at Stoke and get into the side and get as many games as I can between now and the end of the season, ready for the tournament."
The competition Butland is referring to is the European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic.
It is a tournament the Young Lions approach full of confidence after a qualifying campaign so impressive that manager Gareth Southgate was handed an extended contract until 2017 on Wednesday.
"It is a massive boost for all of us," Butland said of the news. "He has been great for us and we've got a really good set-up and a really good squad going.
"There's a really positive feel about it and it has been a big credit to Gareth, what he has done and who he has brought in, in terms of Steve Holland and other staff.
"It is brilliant, what he has done. The lads are all really enjoying it and really looking forward to the tournament in the summer and hopefully making things pay off."
If any extra motivation was required, Butland needs only look back to the debacle of 2013, when the Young Lions fell at the first hurdle and returned home from Israel without a point to their name.
"We've got a really, really good squad, all pulling in the right direction and all get on extremely well," he said -- something backed up by the fact he was speaking at the NBA in London, where he was with international teammate Nathan Redmond.
"That's massively important, so we're really excited, we've got some big games coming up in March.
"We're looking to prove ourselves and test ourselves again, leading into the tournament in the summer and hopefully put Israel a long way in the past."