According to Express and Star reporter Tim Spiers (tweet – below), Wolves centre-back Danny Batth is looking to bring down the curtain on his 18-year stay at Wolves with a move to Stoke City.
Danny Batth's 18-year association with Wolves looks to be coming to an end. The centre half, who has been on loan at Middlesbrough, is close to moving to Stoke City in a £3.5m deal #wwfc
— Tim Spiers (@TimSpiers) January 28, 2019
In an article on the Express and Star website, Spiers adds a little colour to the tweet saying that the Potters are looking to make a splash with Batth by landing him on a permanent deal.
The 28-year-old, who has been on loan at play-off challenging Middlesbrough in the Championship this season, has been at Wolves since he was a 10-year-old. He’s featured 13 times for Boro this season in all competitions.
Batth was, of course, an important part of the Wolves side that tore up last year’s Sky Bet Championship, rampaging to promotion. The 21 games he played in that campaign came as part of the 212 careers games he’s featured in for the Black Country side.
Of 297 career games, 160 have been at Championship level. With Stoke City looking to push for a return to the Premier League, most likely via a play-off place, then defensive solidity is definitely needed.
Batth would certainly give Stoke City that as they look to push on from a mixed start to their 2018/19 Sky bet Championship campaign. It is a start that has seen the Potters sink to a disappointing 15th place, yet they are only eight points shy of the last of the play-off places.
For a player of Batth’s quality, then splashing out £3.5m is definitely something that won’t break the Stoke City piggy bank.