Bournemouth are ready to use Asmir Begovic as a makeweight in their bid to land Jack Butland.
England keeper Butland has edged ahead in Eddie Howe's thinking as the Cherries manager looks to bring in a new goalkeeper this summer.
Howe has also been monitoring Liverpool's Simon Mignolet and Burnley's Nick Pope.
Stoke have put a huge £30m price tag on Butland, 26, justifying their valuation by arguing he is more developed and experienced than fellow Three Lions goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was when he joined Everton from Sunderland for £25m in June 2017.
Bournemouth are now weighing up offering Begovic back to his old club Stoke along with a lower cash amount in a bid to tempt the Potters into a deal.
Begovic played over 150 games for Stoke between February 2010 and July 2015 before making an £8m move to Chelsea.
He is one of Bournemouth's highest earners, with two years left on his current deal, and they are willing to offload him after his fall down the pecking order this season.
He was dropped by Howe after a training ground dispute, as revealed by Sportsmail in February.
Begovic was given a two-game return to the team recently but then dropped again following Bournemouth's 3-1 home loss to Burnley in which he made two mistakes that led to goals for the visitors.
Both times Begovic has lost his place to veteran Artur Boruc, 39, who will be handed a new deal to extend his stay at Bournemouth.