Stoke say no to James!
Stoke have today pulled out of a deal to sign England veteran David James. It appears that the deal fell through, due to the clubs not being able to agree on who should pay the ‘keepers wages.
I can’t say that I’m upset to hear the news, as I rate Sorensen as a better ‘keeper. In his day James was a world class player, who 5 or 6 years ago I would have loved to have seen him wearing the No1 jersey for Stoke.
Pulis clearly does not rate Sorensen as highly as I do, James was interested in joining us because he was offered first team football ahead of England’s world cup campaign. I understand Pulis’ desire to create more competition between the sticks, as I do not believe Simonsen would be able to make the step up for a prolonged period, should Sorensen be unable to play. James would not have earned his way into the team, he would have gone straight into the side for tomorrow’s game, otherwise he would not have even considered joining us.
This whole episode will clearly make Sorensen question his future at Stoke, especially with the reported interest from a number of top European teams. Pulis’ needs to understand that Stoke currently do not have the stature to have two ‘keepers of their quality, only the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, and so on, have the pulling power to keep hold of two ‘keepers of such high quality. Neither Sorensen, nor James would settle for warming the bench in the Potteries, especially after they have both recently made public their ambitions, to play at the highest level possible.
Let me know your thoughts on the last couple of days events.
Good to have a Stoke blogger on board again, look forward to reading more from you. I was thinking I was going to have to drop Sorensen from my Fantasy team, probably still will as he will be unsettled now, but as it seems James isn’t going to Stoke, won’t need to be such a rush.
Sorensen was very nearly ushered out of my fantasy team also. Just hoping he is not too unsettled. We will soon see after today.