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| Wilfried Bony Photo: Bony on Twitter |
First big signing by a
Premier League club today as Côte d'Ivoire's Wilfried Bony joins Stoke City from Manchester City on loan for the season.
Press
Association reports that Stoke made their second signing of transfer deadline
day with Porto defender Bruno Martins Indi joining on loan hours after
Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony did the same.
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| Holland defender Bruno Martins Indi has become Stoke's second signing on deadline day. |
The
Holland international will spend the rest of this season with the Potters with
manager Mark Hughes having the option to make the move permanent at the end of
the campaign.
Of
greater significance is the arrival of Bony, who cost City £28million in
January 2015, as Stoke are short of goalscorers and Hughes will hope the Ivory
Coast international rediscovers the form he showed at Swansea prior to his move
to the Etihad Stadium.
"Bringing
Wilfried in was a no-brainer for us to be perfectly honest because he knows the
Premier League and has scored plenty of goals at this level," Hughes told
stockecityfc.com.
"Eighteen
months ago he was being bought for a hugely significant amount of money, so we
know that we are bringing in a top-quality striker."
Bony,
who scored just 10 goals in 46 appearances for City, took part in a training
match soon after completing the move.
Martins
Indi will provide greater options at the back and Hughes is pleased to have got
the deal done.
"We
have been aware of Bruno for quite some time now, as many other clubs around
Europe have been," he added.
"He
is a very accomplished defender who has a lot of experience at a very high
level, including playing for Holland during their good run at the 2014 World
Cup.
"He
is a guy that we feel can come in and make an immediate impression, because he
boasts all the attributes needed to perform at the top level of the Premier
League."
Chief
executive Tony Scholes is happy to have been able to deliver two players on
Hughes' wanted list.
"It's
been a productive day for us having managed to get three important deals over
the line," he said.
"We
set out to address several areas of the squad that Mark Hughes felt needed
looking at this summer, and we are delighted that we have been able to do that.
"Bruno
is a player that the manager has admired for quite some time and as soon as the
opportunity arose for us to make this deal happen, we reacted quickly to make
sure we could conclude it."
Following Martins Indi's arrival
Philipp Wollscheid was loaned out to Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, who have the
option to buy at the end of the season.
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