by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

STOKE City are hoping Seyi Olofinjana will become the club’s first big-name departure this summer as talks appear to be prospering with leading French club Monaco.

Stoke are trying to recoup as much as possible from the £3m package they agreed with Wolves when signing the 29-year-old Nigerian international 12 months ago.

His departure will leave a midfield vacancy already earmarked for Sunderland’s Dean Whitehead as Stoke remain on his trail ahead of a possible deal by the end of next week.

Olofinjana is resigned to leaving the Potteries for the south of France after falling largely out of favour in the second half of his first season at Stoke.

The burly midfielder was a regular and successful presence in the first quarter of Stoke’s debut season in the Premier League, but would later drift to the sidelines to end with a modest 14 starts and four substitute appearances in the top flight.

Mama Sidibe’s rehabilitation from knee ligament surgery is on ice after he was flown home
from Stoke’s training camp here in Austria following the premature birth of his baby daughter.

His wife is believed to have given birth in the back of a car after her pregnancy failed dramatically to run its full term.

Tom Soares has travelled in the opposite direction to rejoin his team-mates, however, after he was given time off earlier this week following the birth of his first child.

Manager Tony Pulis will field most of his squad in tonight’s friendly against German outfit St Pauli in Irdning (5.30pmBST) because the friendly has been scheduled so early in his pre-season programme.

He explained: “The games are a bit in front of our schedule this year, so they will only have the 45 minutes each. I am only concerned with them getting through that 45 minutes without getting injured.”

Liam Lawrence is a slight doubt this evening after limping out of training yesterday as a precaution against further damage.

“He’d just played the ball inside and felt his knee, so we pulled him off just to be on the safe side,” said Pulis.

He reported no major breakthroughs on the transfer front as he continues chasing his first major summer signing ahead of the big August 15 kick-off.

“We’ve got to be careful to make sure we get the right ones in,” he said. “We want the kind who show the same attitude the lads have shown over here in training.

“The players get spoilt by the hotel out here, but they also have to work very hard.”

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Stoke banking on Olofinjana’s Monaco move