Stoke eye up summer of big spending

Stoke City could splash the cash again this summer after chief executive Tony Scholes teased that the club’s transfer record might be smashed.

The Potters shelled out £18m in January 2016 for midfield flop Giannelli Imbula but manager Mark Hughes has not been put off from throwing his weight around in the transfer market – snapping up Joe Allen and Saido Berahino for a combined £28m this season.

Stoke initially became more frugal when Hughes arrived in 2013 – opting to sniff out bargains like £2m striker Marko Arnautovic after several seasons of big fees for mediocre players under former boss Tony Pulis.

But with the Premier League now awash with more cash than ever, Stoke have started to revert to their old ways and Scholes is tempted for another big move this summer.

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Central defender Bruno Martins Indi is expected to complete a permanent move for about £10m after an impressive loan spell but Scholes says that may not be their biggest move.

“If the right player came along, we are always looking at opportunities,” he said.

“However, I don’t think you can be having record signings every transfer window.

“And if you look over the last three or four, we’ve done a big signing in each window.

“There was Saido in January, Joe Allen last summer, the previous January there was Giannelli and Xherdan Shaqiri the summer before.

“But we are always looking at the opportunities on how we can improve on what we’ve got.”