Stoke City News

Stoke edge closer to double deal

|
Image for Stoke edge closer to double deal

Stoke are on the verge of agreeing a fee with Birmingham City for defender Scott Dann and Striker Cameron Jerome, believed to be around the £16 million mark.

The Potters have been trailing the recently relegated pair for several weeks and are hopeful that a deal can be completed, but whether they can persuade the highly sought-after Dann to shun the big guns and follow Jerome to the Brit remains to be seen.

The 24-year-old former Coventry stopper formed a formidable partnership with Roger Johnson at the heart of Birmingham`s defence and has been attracting the attentions of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in recent weeks whilst Jerome`s efforts last season were not enough to save Birmingham from the drop.

Chairman Peter Coates told The Sentinel: ‘We have made an offer and are hoping to do a deal that will satisfy both clubs.

‘It is my understanding we were very close to a deal, but then you still have to sort things out with the players. These things can take forever”.

Dann joined Birmingham from Coventry in June 2009 and has never looked back; he has proven to be a rock of a defender, very much akin to our very own Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross. A player of his quality isn`t going to join a mid-table club to warm the bench though so it`ll be interesting to see how everything pans out.

Jerome, 24, seems like a player who would fit the Stoke unit well, a willing runner who has pace to burn and age on his side, he could prove to be a very good signing in the long term as well as giving Kenwyne Jones something to think about. The former Cardiff man is by no means a prolific goal-scorer but relishes playing at the Britannia and his 11-goal haul in 2009/2010 suggests he has genuine potential. He definitely owes us for the amount of goals he`s scored against us, dating back to the brace which helped Cardiff to a 3-0 win at The Britannia in 2005. (How times change,eh).

In other news, according to reports, we are also monitoring Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate and Man City winger Craig Bellamy, two players of undoubted quality who`ve struggled with injuries. Certainly, Bellamy would be a cracking signing for the football club but there will surely be a frantic scramble for his services next season.

What do you think about the possible signings? Could Pulis` pursuit of Dann be indicating a possible high profile departure? (I`m scared of mentioning any names!) And what do you think of Jerome? Have we seen enough from him to suggest he could seriously challenge our current striker pairing?

Amidst all the transfer window confusion, one thing is for sure – you can follow all the transfer news and more here at Vital Stoke, we won`t miss a thing!



Share this article

Twitter : @Tom_VitalStoke