Giannelli Imbula: Signs with Stoke City

Stoke City have sensationally smashed their club record transfer fee by landing FC Porto dynamo Giannelli Imbula, confirm the club’s official website.

The 23-year-old has signed a five-and-a-half year deal at the Britannia Stadium just a few months after moving to Portugal in a £15m deal from Marseille last summer.

He has played for France Under-21s, but could also play for Belgium.

Stoke pulled the plug on a deal on Saturday with Porto’s demands looking exorbitant, but contact from the Portuguese club was made 24 hours later and a deal is now close to completion.

“We are hopeful”, said Hughes at his press conference ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Manchester United.

The 23-year-old impressed against Stoke in a pre-season friendly and is understood to be open to the prospect of a move to the Premier League. “We want him to be worth more than we paid for him”.

Imbula is the Stoke City’s most expensive player in history followed by Xerdan Shaqiri who held the record when he came in from Bayern Munich for £12m this season.

Prior to joining Porto, Imbula spent two seasons with Marseille, starting 37 of its 38 Ligue 1 games in 2014-2015.

Stoke’s capture of Imbula together with Everton’s £13.5m signing of Lokomotiv Moscow striker Oumar Niasse were the major contributors to the final deadline day spend of £45m by Premier League clubs. When you’re trying to move and become a different club in terms of aspiration and expectation then you have to get the players to drive that.

“A lot of things have to fall into place but the hope is we will get it concluded some time today”.