Stoke City to use Nzonzi as bait for £20m-rated star
Published:
Stoke City are planning to use Sevilla’s interest in Steven Nzonzi to their advantage by launching a swap bid for Grzegorz Krychowiak.
The Potters recently turned down a £7.5m bid from the La Liga side for their French midfielder and in asking for the Poland international in exchange it appears they rate the former Blackburn ace at closer to £20m.
Krychowiak is contracted to the Andalusians until 2018 but after deeming the Spanish side’s bid for Nzonzi an “insult” the Britannia Stadium outfit have targeted their key man.
Poland international Krychowiak is widely regarded as one of the most promising defensive midfielders in Europe and has attracted interest from both Manchester United and Arsenal and appears set to depart the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan this summer.
However, it has been suggested in some circles that Stoke boss Mark Hughes isn’t actually keen on the player and has instead suggested the swap deal in a bid to ward off Sevilla’s interest and instead convince Nzonzi to sign an extended contract.
Tony Scholes, the club’s chief executive, recently said: “I can confirm that we received a bid from Sevilla for Steven but it gets nowhere near our valuation of the player and in any case we would obviously like Steven to stay at Stoke City.
“We have no desire to sell one of our best players.”
Stoke are currently priced at 13/10 to secure another top 10 Premier League finish and Hughes will hope to have Nzonzi in the starting line-up for their opener away to Norwich to ensure a winning start to the new season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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