West Ham United and Everton tried to sign Thibaud Verlinden before he agreed a move to join Stoke City in 2015. This is now revealed by the player himself during an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen.
The Potters took the winger from Standard Liège. They initially included him in their youth system, before promoting him to their first team two years later.
Verlinden’s time at the Belgian club’s academy convinced West Ham, Everton and Stoke to make an attempt to sign him.
Mark Hughes was then in charge at the bet365 Stadium and played a vital role in helping Stoke beat Everton and West Ham in securing the deal for the attacker.
“Everton and West Ham also really wanted me. But Mark Hughes, the manager of Stoke, gave me a really good feeling,” he said.
Verlinden made 13 appearances for Stoke before leaving them permanently in 2021. During his time with the English club, he had two loan spells at St. Pauli II and Bolton Wanderers.
“The people who thought I went to England for the money don’t know what they’re talking about. In my first season at Stoke I played on a scholarship from the school and earned nothing,” Verlinden explained.
“It wasn’t until a year later that I signed my first professional contract. I made [it to] the match day squad a number of times.”
“In the Premier League, for example, I sat on the bench next to Peter Crouch, Bojan Krkic and Wilfried Bony. My competitors in the starting team were Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri. Not bad, huh.”
“I wanted to prove myself very hard during that period, often claimed the ball during training and therefore also won the trust of my teammates. Unfortunately, injuries have thrown a spanner in the works.”
