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Stoke City continue to be linked with Bjorn Engels in the Belgian media.

The central defender and his Club Brugge side had a night to forget in Athens on Thursday as they lost 3-0 to AEK and saw themselves crash out of European competition for the season.

Het Nieuwsblad report Stoke City remain keen on Engels, perhaps they skipped the AEK game, but want to sign a midfielder first.

Should Mark Hughes have budget left after the midfielder, then the Belgian newspaper state he’ll try for Engels, and it’s claimed Stoke ‘can pay €9m without effort’.

Kevin Wimmer is presented as another Stoke target, but his estimated €16m price-tag is nearly twice that of Engels.

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Sampdoria have already offered €8m for Engels, in two payments of €4m, but it’s not been considered sufficient by Club Brugge.

Depending on what profile Stoke City are looking for, they could do a lot worse than look elsewhere in Belgium.

Anderlecht’s Kara Mbodj is keen for a Premier League move, and many in Belgium would consider him better than Engels.