When Sky Sports reported that Bruno Martins Indi would have his medical at Stoke City on Wednesday, everyone believed it, including the Portuguese press.
That’s why the British outlet is much mentioned in Portugal today, as the local media was caught by surprise when seeing the player on the pitch for Porto in a friendly last night.
Record are now claiming that Martins Indi will not travel until the clubs find an agreement for the transfer. And despite the player’s will to sign for Stoke permanently, he will have to wait until he gets the order to fly.
The newspaper says ‘it sounds strange’ that Stoke City are now willing to pay €14m for a player they didn’t want to spend €10m on previously. But the reason for it would be the club’s necessity to find a defensive reinforcement.
There’s also the competition problem. Record mentions that West Ham United have recently joined the race, so Stoke City are having to move quickly and avoid the Dutchman to sign for Premier League rivals.
However, we’re far from convinced there’s anything in the West Ham claims, as explained previously, so perhaps Stoke are rushing simply because they’d like Martins Indi for pre-season.
West Ham may be a red herring.
