TONY Pulis has hailed the headline signings of Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen and former England winger Jermaine Pennant as major coups which could propel Stoke into a long-term Premier League future, writes Martin Spinks.

Gudjohnsen, aged 31, was sealed on a season-long loan from Monaco and 27-year-old Pennant arrives on loan until January from Spanish outfit Real Zaragoza.

They join fellow deadline-day signings Marc Wilson and Salif Diao, while Pulis, pictured right, also confirmed there had been an approach for Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia before being deterred by the asking price for the talented Frenchman.

All but the Diao signing went to the wire on a dramatic day of cat-and-mouse dealing which also saw Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson move to Portsmouth to facilitate Wilson's arrival, on a four-year contract, in a deal valued at just over £4.5m.

"Eidur is a class player," said Pulis, "someone with real European pedigree at clubs like Barcelona and Chelsea.

"It's a deal we've been working on for a while and one we were trying to keep quiet.

"We spent a lot of time convincing him to come here, so we're obviously delighted he's decided to join us.

"I spoke to Harry Redknapp about him because he had him on loan at Tottenham last season. He thought he was a top player and if things had been different at Tottenham he would have taken him back.

"I've spoken to others about him and they say he's a top lad behind the scenes, and he's still got plenty left in the tank. It should be a real coup for this football club.

"And we can say the same about Jermaine. This was another one we were keeping quiet because we didn't want others getting involved.

"I spoke to his agent two days into pre-season, so it wasn't as last minute as people might think."

He said of the former Liverpool and Birmingham winger: "He was one of the bright young stars of English football before going to Spain after losing his way a little bit.

"Now we hope we can breathe some life back into him and I'm looking forward to working with him."

Pulis believes the pair can re-ignite a goal-shy forward line coming under fire last season after winger Matthew Etherington top-scored in the Premier League with five.

"If you looked at last season's team," he acknowledged, "every supporter would have said it lacked goals more than anything. We seriously had to look at our goal-scoring capabilities and hopefully we've done that now.

"It's taken us a while to get them in and that's a disappointment because you want to be working with these players, but we will be patient with them and hopefully they have been worth the wait.

"This is a massive third year in the Premier League for us and a difficult one because it's hard to attract the players you need to take you to the next level.

"But if we can get through this season we will be fine, I'm convinced of that, and these players have given us a great chance of doing that.

"Now we just have to get them as competitive and as focused as you want them to be."