Stoke City: Potters on brink of £1.5m Michael Kightly deal
STOKE City are on the brink of sealing the signing of Wolves winger Michael Kightly for an initial figure of around £1.5m.
And Kightly's arrival could sharpen interest in Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant as boss Tony Pulis will have three senior wingers on his books.
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Stoke City are on the brink of signing Wolves winger Michael Kightly.
The 26-year-old is set to put pen to paper after Stoke and Wolves finally found some middle ground at the end of lengthy discussions over the past week.
Wolves wanted £2.5m for the 26-year-old, while Stoke were only prepared to pay £2m.
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The compromise appears to be a fee of £1.5m up front, but rising to £2.5m with add-ons based on Kightly's playing record and Stoke's success during his time with the club.
The former England under-21 player re-established his reputation last season with a successful comeback from long-term injury problems, and he is one of several Wolves players keen to quit Molineux following their relegation last May.
His move to Stoke would maintain the club's record of signing players from relegated clubs in each of the last four years after recruiting the likes of Dave Kitson, Robert Huth, Marc Wilson and Cameron Jerome in previous summer windows.
However, Pulis has been told he will have to generate much of his own money for signings this summer, and that could now leave him open to offers for either Etherington or Pennant.
Etherington appears the riper for the picking, given Pennant's recent off-field problems, and an early-summer link with old club West Ham could gather legs before the end of the month.
Significantly, one of Etherington's closest friends in football, former West Ham colleague James Collins, returned to Upton Park last week in a £2.5m move from Aston Villa.
West Ham have plenty to spend after winning promotion in May, it seems, but Stoke will do well to recoup all the £2m they spent on bringing Etherington to the Potteries in January 2009.
Kightly will not be signed in time for tonight's friendly at Torquay (7.45pm), the first of a double-header in the West Country as the squad will remain there for tomorrow night's game at Yeovil.
Pennant is also expected to miss out after picking up an injury while playing and training with the youth team over the past fortnight following his failure to gain entry to the United States with the rest of the Stoke first-team squad because of a recent drink-drive conviction.
SHEFFIELD Wednesday are reportedly interested in offering Ricardo Fuller a route back into English football following this summer's release by Stoke.
However, the Jamaica international did not, as reported in some quarters, appear on trial for Wednesday in their friendly against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Comments
by Latthink
Thursday, August 09 2012, 5:59PM
“Well well, DJ, you are more negative than lightening going upwards! Be careful or I will set EVA upon you!”
by SCFC4EVA
Wednesday, August 08 2012, 9:32PM
“hey, great news, just got confirmation that both Michael Kightly and Jeff Cameron have been signed !!! No news on the Polish left back however.
Even better news about Huth......... he has been diagnosed with Viral Meningitis, the mildest form of the virus and is expected to be out 2 weeks or so, give or take.”
by DJofTNE
Wednesday, August 08 2012, 8:12PM
“We go in for a decent Wolves winger at 5m and we come out of the deal with a rubbish wolves winger for 1.5m, well done TP and PC, top notch signings so far, ha ha ha, relegation for us ! Prefer the championship anyway, everyone plays football like us, such a pleasure to the eye.”
by SCFC4EVA
Wednesday, August 08 2012, 4:53PM
“hmm apparently some people with red arrows don't agree he is a good signing, or they don't want him to score goals for us.
very odd. must be a Newcastle Town fan”
by SCFC4EVA
Wednesday, August 08 2012, 1:56PM
“Welcome Michael Kightly. ! very much needed winger and hopefully we will see more than a few goals from you this season !!”
by SCFC4EVA
Tuesday, August 07 2012, 9:47PM
“as i said flint, lighten up and dont be so sensitive, and here's me thinking that the only part you might construe as being remotely aggressive was me saying 'get rid of him" !
juts how do you read "tone" anyway?
and the only reason 'certain people' have a problem with me is because i say things they don't agree with, plain and simple. Also, I haven't seen the first complaint from you about such incivility coming from the select few on here on a daily basis flint! so please.......”
by JTFLINT2009
Tuesday, August 07 2012, 9:40PM
“Your tone is aggressive. "flint, i don't care what day he was signed". Just reading that first line alone, you would think that it was me who is at fault for our tendancy for deadline day signings(!) Your tone in general is aggressive, which is half the reason why people have a problem with you. There's a difference between over-sensitivity and trying to keep civility, which is why I brought it up.”
by SCFC4EVA
Tuesday, August 07 2012, 9:30PM
“aggressive in my reply flint ? what in the world are you going on about ? Bloody hell there are some overly sensitive mamby pamby types on here. all i did was respond. !!
good lord.”
by JTFLINT2009
Tuesday, August 07 2012, 9:23PM
“SCFC4EVA, you asked me why I thought Tonge was on high wages, I offered an opinion. If you think we should release him, fair enough. No need to be so agressive in your reply. If it's any consolation, if I were in Peter Coates's shoes, I'd probably release him for his own good as well as the wages. Which suggests there could be another reason why we cannot release him, perhaps that the fee to cancel his contract would be higher than paying him for another 12 months.”
by boothernender
Tuesday, August 07 2012, 8:10PM
“I know one round hole where I'd like to shove a square peg.”