Xherdan Shaqiri Completes Stoke City 5-year Deal

Stoke tried to sign Shaqiri from Bayern Munich in January, however the player opted to join Inter Milan instead, signing a a four-year deal at the San Siro.

So far Martinez has brought in three players for a combined £4.5 million, while Shaqiri has cost Stoke nearly triple that amount.

Mark Hughes’ side kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 home loss to Liverpool and Shaqiri was an interested onlooker in the stands.

It is the flawless move for me, everything about it fits – and for me it is the ideal decision.

“But nothing is certain in the transfer market when the window is open”.

However, as of this morning, multiple outlets are reporting that Shaqiri will move to Stoke City for 12 million euros.

“I am very happy, and incredibly excited that this transfer to Stoke City has finally happened”, he said.

Born in Gjilan, Yugoslavia, in modern-day Albania, Shaqiri’s family emigrated to Switzerland and he has made 46 global appearances for his adopted nation, scoring on 17 occasions – including a hat-trick against Honduras during the 2014 World Cup group stages.

Shaqiri is nicknamed “the Alpine Messi” and “the magic dwarf”, not because of size but because he was the second best player after Lionel Messi and not Cristiano Ronaldo.

An agreement has been reached with Inter Milan, who have long been keen to cash in on the 23-year-old winger, but Stoke still have to persuade him to put pen to paper at the Britannia Stadium.

Amazingly, as some of the Tweets above show, Stoke now have as many Champions League winners in their squad as any other team in the Premier League.

Shaqiri has become the Potters’ ninth summer signing and is looking forward to the new campaign.

The club also revealed that the playmaker will be in contention for their second game of the new Premier League season against Tottenham on Saturday.