When Stoke City signed Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan, they knew that if he played well a bigger club would come in. That was part of the bargain, make the move to Stoke and kickstart your career.
Shaqiri hasn’t been at his best for Stoke. He’s shown flashes, but once again not got near to the level of consistency which would see the world’s biggest clubs fight for him.
The Stoke Sentinel reported on Thursday that ‘some reports’ coming out of Germany said Borussia Dortmund were interested.
We went to check in Germany and weren’t able to find anything.
Germany’s 442 picked it up and explained: ‘The Sentinel in this rumour refers to unnamed sources and reports in Germany. Since this rumour is unknown in Germany, you have to enjoy it with caution.’
How very confusing.
So we asked the Stoke Sentinel, and they told us the rumour was started by Emanuele Giulianelli.
He’s an Italian journalist, and it would be fair to say he’s not one of the more respected ones. Last summer Giulianelli had Arsenal fans in rages as he continually told them to expect the signing of Karim Benzema, so much so the player himself had to rubbish it.
There are more examples.
So, there’s nothing in Germany on Shaqiri to Dortmund, other than what they’re reporting from the Sentinel, which came via Giulianelli on Twitter.
