Stoke City backed to seal "sensible" Bristol City transfer | OneFootball

The Potters are said to be making moves to bring Mark Sykes to the bet365 Stadium this winter

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Stoke City are said to be keen on bringing Bristol City midfielder Mark Sykes to the club during the January transfer window, with an official bid being sent to Ashton Gate earlier this week.

That was according to Sky Sports’ Anthony Joseph, who claimed the Potters have made contact regarding a move for the midfielder, who has just six months left on his current deal, while the Robins have the option to extend that by another year.

Football League World have exclusively revealed that Mark Robins’s side have been rebuffed in their early efforts to lure Sykes to the bet365 Stadium, with their bid failing to meet City’s valuation of the Irishman.

With interest hotting up in the 27-year-old, we spoke to FLW’s Stoke City fan pundit Daniel Buxton about his thoughts on a move for the midfielder, as Robins continues to lay his imprint on his new side.

Stoke City backed in Mark Sykes pursuit

While Stoke have seen their early advances for Sykes turned away, there is likely to be even more activity surrounding the midfielder as the February 3 transfer deadline draws ever closer.

While goals were the order of the day as the January transfer window got underway, the Potters have added fire power in the shape of the returning Nathan Lowe, while Ali Al-Hamadi has joined from Ipswich Town for the remainder of the campaign.

Attention now turns to productivity in the middle of the park to provide the front men with chances, with Stoke currently the lowest scorers in the division, with 26 goals in their 29 league games this season.

In Sykes, they could have the perfect man to knit the side together in terms of creating chances from wide areas - having made 17 goal contributions over the past three seasons - and Buxton likes the news he is hearing out of the bet365 Stadium regarding their proposed target.

When asked about the transfer scenario, the City fan said: “I like the look of Mark Sykes, it is a sensible one and not a ‘rock the city signing’ to use a phrase Tony Pulis coined many years ago.

“It is not going to make a lot fans go ‘wow he is coming in’, but if you think of the strikers that we have now got, we have got Ali Al-Hamadi coming in and we brought Nathan Lowe back from Walsall.

“They are two strikers that have great goalscoring instincts; they are more poachers than massively involved in buildup, and if we are looking to move into Robins’ favoured formation and playing the two up front and wing-backs, then Sykes is known to have a great delivery.

“Bristol City fans are massively keen on his delivery from wide areas, and we obviously have Josh Wilson-Esbrand coming in as well, and he has shown already he has a good delivery from the left-hand side.”

Mark Sykes can help Mark Robins continue to transform Stoke City

Since his appointment on New Year’s Day, Robins has so far failed to pick up a league win as Stoke boss, with draws against Oxford United, West Bromwich Albion and Plymouth Argyle to his name ,as well as a 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth last week.

Progress is slow in terms of turning things around in the Potteries, with just Al-Hamadi and Wilson-Esbrand being brought in so far this month, while Lewis Baker has returned to the club after starting the season on loan at Blackburn Rovers.

The former Coventry City boss will be looking for some extra additions between now and next Monday’s deadline, and Buxton believes Sykes could add an extra bit of quality in the midfield which has been lacking in City’s run of just one win in 15 Championship outings.

The Potters fan continued: “I think with the two strikers that we will be looking to play from now on, we need to put the ball into the right areas. That has been a massive problem all season; we haven’t given the strikers enough chances.

“Tom Cannon - as lethal finisher as he was - take out his penalty goals and he only got four or five from open play, and that’s because he didn’t get the service.

“So we do need to improve that, and like I say, with Sykes’ delivery and Wilson-Esbrand on the other side, we are giving our strikers half a chance then.”