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15th Aug 2017

Stoke’s Jese Rodriguez deal means they’ll have more Champions League winners than any other English club

Jese Rodriguez is expected to complete his move to Stoke imminently

Simon Lloyd

Stoke City are close to signing yet another Champions League winner, with a deal for Paris Saint-Germain’s Jese Rodriguez said to be close.

The 24-year-old won the European Cup twice during his time at Real Madrid before moving to Paris at the start of last season.

The switch to Ligue 1 hasn’t worked out and, despite strong interest from Italian club, Fiorentina, the player is now said to be closing in on a move to Stoke having completed a medical with them on Monday.

Jese will be joined by four other Champions League winners at the Bet365 Stadium: Darren Fletcher (Manchester United), Bojan (Barcelona), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich) and Ibrahim Afellay (Barcelona).

As pointed out by Sky Sports, when complete, Stoke will boast more winners of the competition than any other Premier League club. Chelsea, who have four winners, will be nearest to them with Manchester City (three), Manchester United (two) and Arsenal and Liverpool (one each) close behind.

The surprise signing is a huge coup for Mark Hughes, who has been looking to fill the void left by Marko Arnautovic after his move to West Ham this summer.

It’s unclear at this stage how much Stoke will pay for the player, who only managed to score once during his season at PSG.