Xherdan Shaqiri is set to sign for Stoke City for £12m after watching the opening defeat to Liverpool on Sunday despite Mark Hughes admitting last month that a deal for the Internazionale and Switzerland forward was dead.
Shaqiri was having a medical at Stoke on Monday and is expected to complete a deal that would represent a significant U-turn after his initial decision to turn down a move to the Britannia Stadium earlier this summer.
“We had conversations and I went out to meet the boy,” Hughes told the Stoke Sentinel in July. “We were able to have good conversations but in the end it wasn’t to be. It was important we were able to establish that enthusiasm to sense from the player and his people.
“We got to a point where didn’t sense that. As far as I’m aware [it’s dead]. We may revisit it but if I’m honest it’s probably one that has gone away from us.”
Shaqiri, formerly of Bayern Munich, has also been linked with a return to Germany with Schalke recently while Everton and Newcastle were also reportedly interested in his signature.
