Stoke City plotting transfer swoop for Chelsea player | OneFootball

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Stoke City are interested in signing Chelsea defender Bashir Humphreys on loan, as Alex Neil looks to improve his squad in the transfer window.

Who is Bashir Humphreys?

The 20-year-old centre-back moved to Stamford Bridge from Reading as a teenager, and he has progressed through the ranks at Chelsea over the past six years.

That includes getting some minutes in the first-team, with Humphreys making his debut in an FA Cup tie against Manchester City last season.

After that, he secured a temporary move to Germany, where he played 12 times for Paderborn as they ended up finishing sixth in the Bundesliga II.

Now back with the Londoners, Humphreys knew it was highly unlikely he will be in Mauricio Pochettino’s plans this season, so another move is on the cards.

And, the Daily Mail has revealed that Stoke are looking to sign the player, which would give him his first taste of Championship football.

Stoke interested in Bashir Humphreys

Even though Humphreys is entering the final year of his contract with Chelsea, the update states that he would only join Stoke on loan, so it remains to be seen whether he would sign an extension with the Premier League side before moving on.

In terms of his attributes, at 6’2”, the youngster should have the physicality to cope with the demands of the second tier, whilst he will have come through a Chelsea academy that encourages playing out from the back.

Humphreys was generally impressive with Paderborn, even though he only made 12 appearances, so it seems the next step for him to test himself in England.

For Stoke, he would provide extra competition in central defence, something which Neil will have identified as a major priority this summer.

The addition of Michael Rose has helped Stoke at the back, but they did let Phil Jagielka go, whilst Harry Souttar moved to Leicester in January. Therefore, Humphreys would be a welcome boost for the boss.

It would also continue a theme of the Potters identifying quality from Premier League clubs to take on loan, after they finalised deals to bring in Ki-Jana Hoever and Chiquinho from Wolves over the weekend.

Stoke City summer transfer plans

Following on from that, it has been a busy few weeks for Stoke, but that was always likely as Neil gears up for his first full season in charge of the club.

The reality is that Stoke have underperformed massively, year after year, since they were relegated from the Premier League, and it’s not good enough. Now, the Scotsman is in place, and he has overseen some big changes this summer, with a change of personnel in key places off the pitch as well.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out for Stoke, but most fans would have welcomed the new approach considering how bad things have been, so they will be pleased with the turnover of players.