Club respond as Stoke City table transfer bid to sign 22-year-old winger | OneFootball

Ligue 2 club Bastia have rejected an offer from Stoke City for the talented 22-year-old winger Lamine Cisse, according to reports in the French media.

Reports in the French media are indicating that Stoke City have had an offer for the exciting 22-year-old forward Lamine Cisse rejected by his current club, SC Bastia.

Stoke City had a narrow escape from relegation to League One at the end of the 2024-25 season, and they have already been active in the transfer market this summer as they rebuild with an eye on improving on their recent poor performance in the Championship.

It's now been seven years since Stoke were last relegated from the Premier League, and they still haven't been able to finish above 14th in the table since then.

With Mark Robins having been appointed as their manager at the start of January, the pressure is on for improvement at a club that has been significantly under-performing in recent years.

This summer has seen them already active in the transfer market, with the arrivals of defender Maksym Taloverov from Plymouth Argyle, Aaron Cresswell from West Ham United, Welsh international Sorba Thomas from Huddersfield Town and Davin Mubama on loan from Manchester City.

Bastia reject offer for Lamine Cisse

But reports from the French media indicate that Stoke have been less successful in their attempts to bring the talented 22-year-old winger Lamine Cisse to The Bet365 Stadium.

The French journalist Mohamed Toubache-Ter has reported on X that Ligue 2 club Bastia have rejected an offer from Stoke City for Cisse. Bastia, who are based on the island of Corsica, have been in Ligue 2 for the last four consecutive seasons, and finished the 2024-25 season in 8th place, seven points short of a play-off place for a return to the top flight.

It is not clear how much Stoke offered for the bid but, when asked by one of his followers how much Stoke had offered for the players, he replied by saying that it was a "ridiculous offer", all of which indicates that the two clubs may be quite a long way apart in terms of their valuations for him.

Lamine Cisse had an excellent first full season at Bastia

Lamine Cisse signed his first professional contract with another Ligue 2 club, AS Nancy-Lorraine, in 2020, making his senior debut for them the following year. His club were relegated into the Championnat National - the third tier of French football - after finishing bottom of Ligue 2 in 2022, and Cisse signed for Bastia in the January 2024 transfer window and joined the club the following July, upon the expiry of his Nancy contract.

Cisse had an excellent first full season with Bastia, despite his club's inability to push much above mid-table. He scored 9 goals and registered 2 assists in 31 Ligue 2 games for them throughout the 2024-25 season, and has been capped by France at under-15, under-16, and under-20 levels.

Since Cisse signed a three-and-a-year contract with the club in January 2024, Bastia have no obligation to sell although, as with all transfers, it would be prudent for them to keep an unhappy and destabilised player at the club for any longer than is absolutely necessary. How open Cisse might be to a move to England isn't known, but it may well be the case that, if they really value him as a player, Stoke could yet return with an offer that is more appealing to Bastia.