Stoke City’s Eric Bocat was a target for Standard Liège in the summer window.
The Belgian window closed on Monday and earlier that day, journalist Sacha Tavolieri reported the Jupiler Pro League club made an attempt to sign the left-back on loan with a €2m purchase option.
Tavolieri took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to provide an update on why the Belgian club weren’t able to take the player away from Stoke City yesterday.
He reports the Potters refused to let the 26-year-old leave because they couldn’t sign a replacement as the transfer window in the UK has already closed.
The journalist adds Mark Robins wants to keep the Frenchman at the Championship club, where the fullback has a contract until 2028.
Standard Liège have decided against signing another left-back in the recently concluded window as they are determined to sign the Stoke City player in January. Tavolieri claims they have already identified the Frenchman as a priority target for the next window.
Het Nieuwsblad also report Standard Liège’s failure to sign the defender on Monday.
It’s claimed the former Sint-Truiden man was keen on returning to Belgium and reached an agreement with Standard Liège, but the transfer didn’t go through because Stoke City refused to let Bocat leave outside the transfer window.
According to Het Nieuwsblad, the Belgian club could finalise Bocat’s signing in the winter market.
