Stoke City have rejected a ‘cheeky’ £2m bid from Newcastle United for Erik Pieters according to a report from the Stoke Sentinel.
The 29-year-old defender, who has been capped 18 times by the Netherlands, started his career with FC Utrecht but impressed enough there to earn a move to PSV Eindhoven. He continued that form at the Dutch giants and seen got noted as one of the rising full-backs in the game, leading to Stoke signing him for a reported fee of £3m in 2013.
Pieters is now an integral part of the Stoke line-up having made a stunning 170 appearances in his five years at the Bet365 Stadium. But with the Potters getting relegated from the Premier League last season, some feared that they might end up losing him. Pieters is definitely good enough to return to the Premier League and he would surely need top flight football to keep his ambitions of playing for the Dutch national side alive. But for the longest time, there was little to no interest and it seemed like that he would stay with Stoke.
But Newcastle are trying a last-ditch move to sign Pieters though it is arguable how hard are they actually signing him. They made a bid worth £2m earlier today, which was described as cheeky by local media, though that was turned down very quickly. In an ideal world, Stoke wanted to sign another left-back to compete with Pieters so they will not be wanting to sell him, especially for less than what they paid PSV for him back in 2013.
