According to the Stoke Senitel, Newcastle have made a late move to sign Dutch international left-back Erik Pieters – however Stoke are believed to have ‘hastily knocked back’ our ‘cheeky’ £2m bid for the defender.
The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder confirmed earlier on today that Benitez had made an attempt to sign the former PSV defender on a ‘cut-price’ deal, and it’s no surprise to hear that we’ve had no joy after hearing just how little we offered.
Now Federico Fernandez looks all set to sign as a replacement for the injured Florian Lejeune, our attentions will be turning to a deal for a left-back – however a deal for Pieters seems highly unlikely unless we up our offer considerably.
Here’s what the Stoke Senitel have had to say about our ‘cheeky offer’ for the Dutchman today:
‘Newcastle United are believed to have made a late move for long-serving Stoke City defender Erik Pieters.
‘Rafa Benitez’s transfer team made a cheeky offer of about £2m which was hastily knocked back. ‘
A pathetic offer and one which we must have known would get rejected.
With Stoke trying hard to keep their best players ahead of their attempt to earn immediate promotion, why would they sell their first-team left-back for just £2m with hour of the window remaining?!
The 30-year old defender started Stoke’s opening day of the season defeat to Leeds last weekend, having remained at the club despite their relegation to the Championship this summer.
