Konoplyanka wants move, reports suggest Stoke City deal

Ukrainian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka, wanted by Tottenham, West Ham and Liverpool among others has stressed his desire to leave beaten Europa League finalists Dnipro.



Liverpool almost bought him but the deal didn't go through and we looked into signing him but there are suggestions that off the field issues prevented us from deciding to pursue him. There have been suggestions that either through ownership or association he is in with 'the wrong crowd' shall we say.

The 25-year-old is out of contract at the end of the month and spoke to Profutbol in Ukraine to explain his situation.

"I think that right now is the perfect time to change clubs. I promised that until we become champions, I was not going anywhere. I kept my promise, we became champions.  
"The president knows that I want to leave, I have repeatedly spoken about this. I want to grow. It is hard, it is unclear where I will play next. There have been suggestions from good teams.  
"I feel the strength and confidence to be able to play in one of the top championships. If I want to play enough in Europe, now is the time to move."

He is certainly talented and has rather stagnated, plateaued at his current club with a lack of quality opposition. Will we move for him? Italian clubs have looked at him and tried to sign him but none have ever managed to complete a deal.  I think that depends just as much about off the field issues as it does on the field issues.

The latest stories suggest Stoke City have agreed a deal, some even reporting he has signed a deal after months of negotiations but we'll wait and see, such stories didn't mean much when Liverpool thought they had signed him.