Stoke City FC

[TightEnd]

Stoke City have agreed a deal with West Ham to sell Marko Arnautovic for £24m. Full story: http://bbc.in/2tnbk0J

this is a big loss isn't it?

saw stoke 3 times last season (huge sample) and were far better with him (once) than without him (twice)

with a slow start is Hghes in trouble? second favourite to be first manager to leave

[arbboy]

Arnie wants a pay rise nothing else.  Stoke not big time enough so where does he go?  West Ham!  Hardly a move upwards is it apart from the fact WH overpay for talent and Stoke don't salary wise.  He isn't a miss and at £24m seems a nice point to cash in to me.  Hope the terrible start comes (Stoke do have a very tough start on paper anyway as stated in a previous post) so we can all get an incredible price on Stoke staying up in September like we did last season.

There is no way he is being sold without a solid plan to replace or upgrade.  If it means Crouch gets to play more next season i am all for it.

[arbboy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4714084/Stoke-stalwart-Glenn-Whelan-joins-Aston-Villa.html

Great operator for Stoke throughout the early EPL days.  Fantastic pro in every way.  Hope he got a nice financial payday at Villa for his pension.

[baldock92]

He's been a cracking servant for the club, can't believe it's almost 10 years since he joined. Been very much underrated for the most part. Seems like the end of an era with Glenn and Super Jon gone.

Only 5 Pulis signings left in the squad now.

[arbboy]

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/831213/Marko-Arnautovic-West-Ham-Medical-Friday-Stoke-Wages-Transfer-News-Gossip-News

Five year deal for Arnie and £100k+ a week.  No wonder he was so keen to leave.  You have to laugh at how bad West Ham are at recruiting and over paying for players.  The porn barons just love flashing their ill gotten gains.  Little pea (up to £140k a week!), Arnie and Joe Hart.  You have to think West ham are a huge price to go down this year if that's their summer business.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/631064/Arsenal-transfer-news-exclusive-Jack-Wilshere-West-Ham-Premier-League

Surely they don't add this sick note to the list of lol summer signings as well?  £20m?  Are you serious?  Wenger must be pissing himself if he got £20m for him and got his salary off the books.

[TightEnd]

Stoke City have rejected a bid from Swansea City for midfielder Joe Allen. http://bbc.in/2vTgHFK

[pleno1]

Stoke for the drop this year?

[arbboy]

Stoke for the drop this year?

Why do people keep asking this?  On what grounds?  I don't get it.  We have shipped out dead wood to a relegation rival and Arnie who is massively over rated.  Signed two quality centre halfs, kept the vast majority of the rest of last years big squad numbers wise.  Butland is fully fit and motivated ready for the WC after a season off.  I just don't get this Stoke relegation talk at all.

[arbboy]

Rumours going around today that Burnley have put a serious bid in for Shawcross.  They must want to sign anyone at Stoke over 30.  Very weird strategy by Burnley this summer.

[Dacorb]

The local press in Swansea claim Stoke have rejected a £20m bid and the swans are going to up their offer which I find very hard to believe btw, even with the inevitable Gylfi sale

[arbboy]

The local press in Swansea claim Stoke have rejected a £20m bid and the swans are going to up their offer which I find very hard to believe btw, even with the inevitable Gylfi sale

They can up it all they like if you want to buy any Stoke player you are going to have to pay way over the odds like West Ham have.  Bet365 owners are not exactly short of readies.  Allen is worth way more than Arnie to Stoke to anyone who watches Stoke week in week out.

[pleno1]

Just had a nice bet on this teak to go down. Hopefully pay for my holiday this year.

[arbboy]

Just had a nice bet on this teak to go down. Hopefully pay for my holiday this year.

What reasons you think Stoke will go down? Has there ever been two weaker teams than Huddersfield and Burnley on paper this year to go down?

[baldock92]

I'm loving our 3 CB's. If Hughes is looking to play a back 3 with wingbacks there can't be a much more solid back 3 on paper outside the top clubs than Zouma Shawcross and Martins Indi. Not so sure about how the wing backs will work with our players, will be interesting to see.

[pleno1]

Terrible start for Stoke with their relegation rivals looking great and getting 3 points that they aren't supposed to get. Stoke apparently look dreadful in this first half. Maybe Hughes will get some money to spend. If they are bottom of the league after 2 months I'm not sure Berahino, Shaqiri etc will fancy it. Losing players like Bardsley, Walters and Arnie who have been their before and strong in changing room could be the difference.