Stoke City on brink of agreement for Plymouth Argyle record signing

Maksym Talovierov thought to be on the way out of Home Park

Stoke City are reportedly on the brink of securing a deal for Plymouth Argyle’s record signing, Maksym Talovierov.

The towering 25-year-old centre-back made quite an impact in the Championship following his January transfer from Austrian team LASK Linz, for a reported fee of around £1.7m.

Despite scoring twice in 11 appearances and impressing in the FA Cup, a knee injury cut short his season and dashed Argyle’s survival hopes.

According to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Stoke are now in advanced discussions about enticing him to the bet365 Stadium, with Argyle seemingly accepting that retaining him in League One may be a challenge too far, reports Stoke on Trent Live.

Former manager Miron Muslic, who has since been succeeded by Tom Cleverley, once said: “Maksym is a commanding presence who will add height and physicality to the side, but he is also good on the ball and technically good. Most importantly, he is a good defender.”

Interest in Talovierov this summer was always likely. “It would be very surprising if there was no interest in Argyle’s Ukraine international defender Maksym Talovierov both from clubs in this country and abroad.”

They added: “Talovierov is set to report for pre-season training next week after recently being on international duty.

“His impressive performances for the Pilgrims after joining them for a club record transfer fee of around £1.7 million in January will not have gone un-noticed and at the age of 24 playing in the English third division would be far from ideal for him.”

Stoke And Sunderland Boosted As Rangers Face Hurdle In Chase

Glasgow giants Rangers face an issue before they can move for Stoke City and Sunderland target Ishe Samuels-Smith as they look to ship out at least one player before pursuing a loan deal, according to journalist Mark Hendry.

Samuels-Smith has been a regular for Chelsea’s youth teams but is yet to be handed his senior debut by Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge.

The 45-year-old, though, has kept Samuels-Smith under his supervision, naming him on the bench for a few occasions.

Maksym Talovierov breaks silence as Stoke City try to sign Plymouth Argyle ace, 'there is interest, but...'

The Pensioners now believe that a loan move is the right step in the youngster’s career right now and options are being explored.

Clubs from England are keen on signing the 19-year-old temporarily for next season, with Premier League new boys Sunderland linked, along with Championship side Stoke City.

Russell Martin’s Rangers have reached out to Chelsea to convince them that a move to Ibrox is the best career decision for the youngster at this point in time.

However, the Gers first need to move at least one player out of the club before making space in the squad for Samuels-Smith.

That could be a big boost for Sunderland, who have been hugely active of late, and Stoke, as they look to see off competition from Rangers for the left-back.

Samuels-Smith would be looking to play wherever he goes and that means interested clubs will have to put compelling projects to him, in which he is getting the game time he wants.

With Sunderland and Rangers both having big pressure on their shoulders next season, as the Black Cats look to survive and the Gers chase Celtic, that could be to Stoke’s benefit.

The Potters could give the Chelsea youngster an opportunity to feature regular in the Championship without the huge weigh of expectation of the other two clubs.

How Chelsea view the best destination for their starlet is unclear, but they will also want to see him play.

Maksym Talovierov breaks silence as Stoke City try to sign Plymouth Argyle ace, 'there is interest, but...'

Rangers have Jefte and Ridvan Yilmaz as left-back options at the moment, but Yilmaz has consistently been linked with a return to his native Turkey.

Intriguingly, Chelsea showed interest in signing Jefte in the winter transfer window earlier this year, adding another complex factor to the mix.