Charlie Adam believes European qualification is a realistic target for Stoke City this season as the club close in on the permanent transfer of Xherdan Shaqiri from Internazionale.
Shaqiri would become Mark Hughes’ 10th summer signing should the forward agree to swap San Siro for the Britannia Stadium. A proposed £12m deal collapsed last month when the Switzerland international failed to meet Stoke’s deadline for an answer to their offer but the move was resurrected over the weekend and he underwent a medical on Monday. Everton were also keen on Shaqiri but the former Bayern Munich player wants a permanent departure from Internazionale and not the season-long loan on offer at Goodison Park.
The 23-year-old’s arrival would be a further demonstration of intent from Stoke and, despite losing at home to Liverpool on Sunday, Adam admits the target is clear at the Britannia this season. “The ambition is to try to get into Europe,” the midfielder said. “That would be a massive achievement. Liverpool was only one game, there are 37 more to go. We want to get into Europe, we want to taste it and that would be a step forward for us.”
Adam signed a one-year contract extension this summer and cited the club’s progression under Hughes as a key factor. The Scotland international added: “It is a great project, it is a great club to be part of. It was an easy decision. I wanted to stay and play because of the things the manager is putting in place. It is a good club that is moving forward and the next step for us is to get in Europe, if we can. It is going to be difficult, with the teams around us, but we look forward to the challenge.”
Liverpool’s manager, Brendan Rodgers, claimed his side had “put to bed” the misery of last season’s 6-1 loss at Stoke with their late win. Adam, however, believes his former club were fortunate to leave with three points. “It is hard to judge what is different about Liverpool. We only worry about ourselves. Last season everything went for us and this time we had a few half chances. A draw might have been a fair result but I thought we created enough chances to win the game.
“In pre-season we have not really had the right results but we played well against Liverpool and are disappointed with the result. The possession counts for nothing but to play against a team like Liverpool and have 52% possession shows where we are going forward. We need to build on that. It’s a tough two away games now – Tottenham and Norwich. We knew it was going to be a tough start but one bit of magic from Philippe Coutinho won the game.”
Ibrahim Afellay made an encouraging start to his Premier League career on Sunday and Adam believes the former Barcelona midfielder can emerge as a key influence. “You can see the ability he has,” he added. “You don’t play for Barcelona if you’re a bad player. He likes to keep the ball and has good retention of it. Also, he has only been in the club a couple of weeks and not had much of a pre-season. Once he gets up to speed again and everybody gets to know how each other play we will be a decent team again this year.”
