Sat Jun 29, 2013 4:04 pm
Player Watch: If Carlsberg make strikers, then this guy is the toast of Cardiff
The Sentinel
Jun 28th, 2013
Andreas Cornelius.
MICHAEL BAGGALEY, our resident connoisseur of transfer gossip involving Stoke City, today reports on one who got away ... to join Cardiff!
IF Stoke signed every player they have been linked with this summer, Mark Hughes' first training session would resemble Birmingham City in the days of Barry Fry.
The Blues boss recruited so many players during the mid 1990s that, one of them, media pundit Steve Claridge, reckons he had 27 different strike partners in just two years.
He recalled: "We went training on Dunstable Downs one year and there were hundreds of us – first teamers, reserves, apprentices, school kids, the lot.
"When we came over the hill with the sun behind us it was like a scene from the film Zulu. Some of them kept running and have never been seen again."
So as we were saying, it's all very well for Player Watch to get excited whenever Stoke are linked with a player, but we have to accept that occasionally they will sign for somebody else.
Such is the case with Danish strikerAndreas Cornelius, recently linked with Stoke but now on his way to Premier League newcomers Cardiff City.
Malky Mackay's side have agreed a £7.5m fee with FC Copenhagen for the 20-year-old, who is a Denmark international and scored 18 goals in 32 appearances for his club last season.
Former Stoke manager Tony Pulis went to Denmark to watch the 6ft 4in striker in action last season, having first sought his Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen's views on the striker.
Never mind, it's water under the bridge now, although Player Watch can't help but wonder whether the deal could have a knock on affect,
After all, the Bluebirds have been strongly linked with a move for Stoke hit-man Kenwyne Jones. However, having splashed out millions on one strapping striker would they really want to sign another? We conclude not, unless Mackay ... is replaced by Barry Fry.
TODAY we start a new service, Brit Watch – or in this case Clayton Wood Watch.
According to our spies, seen at the Stoke City training ground yesterday was Juventus left-back Paolo De Ceglie. But with Erik Pieters about to join Stoke, we think they may have got this one wrong.