Stoke have signed Egyptian winger Ramadan Sobhi from Al Ahly for a fee that could rise to £5m.
Sobhi, 19, made his debut aged 16 and has gone on to make 71 appearances for the club, winning two league titles.
It seems as if Mark Hughes has got money to burn at the moment as the capture of the Egyptian will go along side the arrival of Joe Allen as he undertakes a medical with a view to a £13m move.
If Hughes has his way then that won’t be the last of the summer business as they look set to return to West Brom and increase their offer of £20m to capture Saido Berahino from near rivals West Brom. Tony Pulis obviously feels in today’s market he can squeeze a bit more out of Stoke before allowing the England Under 21 international to depart.
Stoke had a decent season last time around and one that saw another top half finish had it not been for the injury to Jack Butland in March then they may very well have secured a place in the Europa League but the injury to keeper Butland then saw a downturn in form and they could only finish 9th and some 11 points away from gaining a place in Europe.
With Butland now set to be back in goal for the start of the season, Hughes has obviously felt that it’s further forward that he needs to upgrade his squad so that they can bridge that gap on the top 8 teams and challenge for European football on a more regular basis.
You would imagine the capture of Sobhi will be one with an eye on the future and he will naturally take time to adjust to the rigours of the Premier League but with Allen there is ready made quality, although manager Hughes will be hoping that he gets the player that shone at Euro 2016 and not the necessarily the one that has been steady but not spectacular at Anfield.