It looked like a cut and dry move, but high wage demands are apparently holding up Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi’s proposed move to fellow Premier League club Stoke City.
After spending a successful loan spell at the Britannia Stadium last season, the Moroccan was high on Potters boss Mark Hughes transfer wishlist, but the move was starting to look untenable with the Reds slapping a £7mil price-tag on the 25-year old. Following weeks of negotiations, the two sides finally agreed on an initial fee of £4.5mil with various add-ons included, but it’s starting to look like it’s about to go sideways again with the player and his agent throwing a spanner in the works.
Much like Fabio Borini — who looked all set to move to Sunderland after Liverpool agreed to a similar deal with a fee that could potentially rise to £14mil — personal terms have yet to be agreed with the player with rumours circulating that Assaidi’s wages are the major sticking point keeping this move from reaching a speedy conclusion.
Hughes is keen to bolster his options up front after seeing his side score only 45-goals last season. Earlier in the week, they completed the capture of former wonder-kid Bojan Krkic from Barcelona, but that won’t be nearly enough to do the trick for the Potters who are also considering making another move for Norwich wide-man Nathan Redmond should the deal for the Reds winger continue to prove problematic.
