Stoke City are poised to sign Porto defender Bruno Martins Indi on a permanent basis.
After spending last season on loan with Stoke City, Sky Sports report that Porto defender Bruno Martins Indi is set to join the Potters on a permanent basis in a deal costing around £7million.
Martins Indi, 25, joined Stoke on loan last summer as a partner for Ryan Shawcross in the heart of Mark Hughes’ defence, and his impressive displays at the bet365 Stadium made him a firm fan favourite.
Bruno Martins Indi of Stoke City and Havard Nordtveit in action
Now, after some lengthy negotiations with Porto, Stoke are finally set to sign Martins Indi, and they can feel ecstatic to have landed him in a deal that will allegedly cost just £7million; a bargain in the current market.
In fact, it’s surprising that no other Premier League clubs have swooped in with rival offers at that price, as the Dutch international certainly would have made sense as a top target for Everton and manager Ronald Koeman.
Everton are searching for a player who can play at centre back and left back, given that defender Ramiro Funes Mori has suffered an injury setback, and veteran left back Leighton Baines was injury-prone last season and has little depth behind him heading into the new season.
Martins Indi can not only fill both positions having featured at centre back and left back throughout his career, but he also knows all about Everton manager Koeman having worked together at Feyenoord in the Eredivisie before going their separate ways in the summer of 2014.
The Independent did report last month that Everton were interested in signing Martins Indi, and it may simply be a case of the defender preferring to return to Stoke, where he has a guaranteed first-team place and enjoyed playing last season.
Yet, given what Everton are currently lacking at the back, the Toffees should have pushed hard to sign Martins Indi and reunite him with Koeman, as it would be a huge surprise to see them sign somebody of his quality for the bargain price of just £7million in such an inflated market.
Would you have liked to see Everton sign Martins Indi?
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