Stoke City were the big spenders on deadline day of the January 2016 transfer window as they smashed their club-record purchase to sign midfielder Giannelli Imbula for £18.3m from Porto.
The powerful and skilful Frenchman has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal to join the Mark Hughes revolution at the Britannia Stadium. This is what Stoke can expect to get for their money…
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Imbula was reportedly targeted by Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur before swapping Marseille for Porto last summer, and is the latest coup for a club who have shown great ambition in the transfer market.
Champions League winners Bojan and Ibrahim Afellay arrived before the statement-making £12m buy of Xherdan Shaqiri, who stood as Stoke’s most expensive ever recruit before today’s Imbula swoop.
The 23-year-old is seen as a replacement for Steven N’Zonzi, who was sold to Sevilla at the start of the season, and will add some meat to a Potters side which already boasted all of the trimmings.
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