While most of the world is anticipating the start of the World Cup, Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has been busy in the transfer market by adding two more signings to bring his total of summer acquisitions to four and counting.
Stoke City have signed former Manchester United striker Mame Biram Diouf and center-back Dionatan Teixeira. Diouf, for the past two-and-a-half years, played in Germany for Hannover 96. The 26-year-old scored 25 goals in 57 Bundesliga matches. While Diouf may be 6’1″ tall, he is a technical player who enjoys celebrating his goals with back flips.
“Mark Hughes has wanted to sign Mame since he took over as manager last year. We tried to get him last summer and made another attempt in January, so we’re naturally delighted to have finally secured his services. He has been a tremendous success in Germany as his record underlines and he is keen to return to England make an impact in the Premier League. We’re pleased to be able to give him the platform to hopefully achieve that ambition,” said the Potters chief executive Tony Scholes on Diouf.
After failing to make an impact in England after signing to Manchester United in 2009, the Senegalese native returns the Premier League a much better player and determined to show his worth.
Meanwhile, Teixeira (pictured below) is a 6’4 youngster who uses his physique to make an imprint on the match. The 21-year-old left his homeland of Brazil at 16 to embark on a professional career and it led him to Slovakia. He struggled at a couple clubs before becoming a rotation player for FK Dukla Banská Bystrica. In January, he came to Stoke City for a trial and obviously the club like what they saw and decided to bring him to England to join the Potters first team.
Along with the gentlemen mentioned above, Stoke have already added defender Phil Bardsley from Sunderland and midfielder Steve Sidwell from Fulham to make their summer acquisitions total up to four players now. The Potters enjoyed a successful season by finishing in the top half of the table and plan on building on that success.
