Stoke City have been quietly strengthening their ranks over the past year, sneakily adding a few former Barcelona players.
At one stage it looked like their attempts to sign Xherdan Shaqiri were a bit too lofty, but that all changed when the Swiss international showed up to their Premier League opener against Liverpool.
Shaqiri, who signed on Tuesday, is quite a coup for Mark Hughes, and gives the Potters a surprising statistic to boast about.
If Shaqiri joins Stoke, their squad will have the most Champions League winners in the Premier League (5)… Schurrle not.
— Callum Davis (@Callum_Davis89) August 11, 2015
Unfortunately for Stoke fans, this is a little misleading since it would actually only put them one behind Manchester United and Chelsea – but that in itself is still very impressive.
Stoke’s squad currently includes Ibrahim Affelay (winner with Barcelona 2011), Bojan Krkic (Barcelona 2009 and 2011), Marc Muniesa (Barcelona 2009) and Marko Arnautović (Inter 2010) – while Shaqiri was part of the Bayern side that won the tournament in 2013.
This ensures Stoke have as many Champions League winners medals than the combined trio of Arsenal (Petr Cech – Chelsea 2012), Liverpool (Daniel Sturridge – Chelsea 2012, Mario Balotelli – Inter 2010, Emre Can – Bayern Munch 2013) and Manchester City (Yaya Toure – Barcelona 2009).
No regrets, eh Xherdan? https://t.co/uiPHXcTSNq
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) August 11, 2015
