Transfer news and gossip from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City start second week of pre-season training

Teenage goalkeeper Alfie Brooks is expected to join Stoke City’s under-21s squad.

The 19-year-old has spent the last three years with Birmingham City after joining from West Brom and is now available on a free transfer.

Stoke currently have highly-rated England youth international Tommy Simkin being challenged with stepping up to Alex Morris’s 21s this season as well as Blondy Nna Noukeu, who spent part of last term out on loan with Southend United and had a one-year extension on his contract triggered heading into the summer. Tommy Jackson was released.

No signings holding up scarves yet but a couple of interesting links over the last couple of days and from further afield than has been the case in the last few years.

Emin Bayram, Galatasaray’s 20-year-old centre-back, and Central Coast Mariners’ London-born Australia under-23s winger Sammy Silvera are the latest names said to be on Alex Neil’s transfer hit list.

Neil gave a hint recently that Stoke’s business might stretch to overseas markets following the change to the work permit rules in the EFL and Premier League.

When asked if Stoke were set up to take advantage, he said: “I think you’ll see by our recruitment, our recruitment strategy and what it’s going to look like over the next few weeks that, yes, we’re more than set up for that. Work’s been ongoing for a while now.

“As always things change on a daily basis. There are some players who get added to the list, some fall off the list, there are some that obviously move or become unavailable for whatever reason.

“But then there are also ones that crop up who you didn’t expect would be available because their circumstances change and now they’re an option for us.”

Gate receipts to go to charit

Stoke will donate their share of gate receipts from this weekend’s friendly against Notts County to the British Heart Foundation.

More than 1,000 Stoke fans will head to Meadow Lane on Saturday afternoon for the first warm-up game of the summer and the hosts are fund-raising for charity in memory of chief executive Jason Turner, who died at the age of 50 in March.

Tickets, priced at £14 for adults, remain on sale.

Josh Maja on the move for free

Josh Maja is expected to leave Bordeaux as a free agent.

The 24-year-old striker spent the second half of 2021/22 on loan at Stoke but returned to France for last season after his club’s relegation to Ligue 2. A promotion challenge ensued and he scored regularly, earning the offer of a one-year contract extension plus the option of another year in the event of going up.

But L’Equipe say a deadline has now passed and “Bordeaux now considers that the file is closed”, with a source saying: “Sometimes not answering is an answer.”

Maja, who scored 16 times, is reported to have options in the Championship as well as at Alaves and Real Valladolid in Spain and Reims and Brest in France.

Everton’s eye-popping ‘Simms price tag’

Plenty of eyes will have popped up and down the country this morning as The Times suggested that Everton are looking for between £7m and £10m for Ellis Simms.

Simms, aged 22, has been linked with nearly half the Championship after a decent spell on loan at Sunderland in the first half of last season. There have been whispers of interest from at least Stoke, Swansea, Sunderland, Coventry and Ipswich Town.

But, although relegated Leicester have used some of the money they received from Spurs for James Maddison to spend big on Conor Coady and Harry Winks, a £7m asking price isn’t reading the room in the post-pandemic Championship.

Apart from Winks and Coady, there have only been two Championship signings with an initial fee of £7m or more since the summer of 2020: Harry Wilson to Fulham and Daryl Dike to West Brom.

Lorraine Kelly’s send off to Stoke old boy

Dundee United supporters have been sad to lose Steven Fletcher after he was a bright spot in a difficult season.

The 36-year-old grizzled striker is being linked with moves to Motherwell, St Mirren and Fleetwood Town after ending his contract a year early following relegation to the Scottish Championship.

“We will miss you,” said ITV’s Dundee United-supporting presenter Lorraine Kelly in a message to Fletcher on Instagram. “Thanks for being fabulous.”

New job for Ethers

Matty Etherington has been appointed under-21s lead coach at Colchester United.

Etherington had been building a reputation as a coach at Peterborough United, both in their youth and first team set-ups, before taking on a poisoned chalice as manager at Crawley Town. Now aged 41, the former winger has been unveiled at League Two Colchester as Dave Huzzey joins the senior backroom team.

“I’m excited about the season ahead and continuing the really good work that’s already going on here within the academy and hopefully adding something to that,” said Etherington.

“You just have to look at the amount of minutes that academy graduates played last season, I think it was top in the EFL. From afar, looking at the academy and how well it’s done over the years and the players that it’s produced – I worked with a couple at Peterborough in Sammie (Szmodics) and Frankie (Kent). It was a good opportunity for me and I’ve got a real hunger to develop players.”