Stoke confirm late transfer deals

It took until 1.15am for the Potters to confirm that they had landed two players in the final minutes of the transfer window.

Tom Soares (Crystal Palace) and Michael Tonge (Sheffield United) were signed for £2m each on 4 year deals just before the midnight deadline, but they failed with a late bid for Henri Camara after Wigan failed to get players in that would allow the move to the Potteries to be completed.

Also, Cardiff proved resolute in their determination to keep Joe Ledley despite reports that the player was unhappy that he’d not been allowed to talk to Stoke.

There was some good news earlier in the evening as the club resigned Danny Higginbotham from Sunderland on a three year deal for an “undisclosed fee”, rumoured to be around £2.5m.

This hectic round of spending for the Potters brings the total to an all time record of £20m for this summer dealings and surely proves once and for all that the chairman means it when he says that he will back the manager’s judgment with cash.

It seems a long, long time since we first broke the £1m barrier back in January with the signing of Leon Cort from Crystal Palace!