Stoke City trying to hijack Millwall deal after Wolves move fails | OneFootball

Stoke City's lack of goalkeeping options has forced Alex Neil to try his hand at landing Bournemouth backup goalkeeper Mark Travers, according to reports.

Josef Bursik's sale to Club Brugge back in January and Matija Sarkic's return to Wolves saw them needing a new man between the sticks - and that was thought to be the latter, with a fee being agreed between Julen Lopetegui's men and the Potters last week.

However, that deal is off, according to reports, which has forced Scotsman Neil to make an audacious move for Ireland international Travers. And though he faces competition from Millwall if he is to get any deal over the line, it appears that he is keen to hijack a deal they thought was done.

What do the reports state?

Mike McGrath of The Telegraph states that Stoke are now trying to complete a permanent deal for Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers, with a move for Wolves’ backup Matija Sarkic falling through, despite a fee being agreed last week.

Travers has also been wanted by fellow Championship side Millwall, who only have George Long and veteran Bartosz Bialkowski in their ranks, but Stoke are now pushing for him after their deal for Sarkic fell through. However, in a shocking twist, Alan Nixon believes that Gary Rowett's men thought a deal taking Travers to The Den was done so this could be a frustrating blow for the London-based side.

Travers, 24, joined Bournemouth as an 18-year-old, though despite being their first-choice goalkeeper in their Championship promotion season back in 2021/22, the Cherries opted to use Brazilian goalkeeper Neto as first-choice in the top-flight last season, whilst Darren Randolph joined in January, which could see Travers leave as he sees game time dwindle even more.

Why would Mark Travers be a good signing for Stoke City?

At just 24 years of age, Travers is up there as one of the best young goalkeepers in the country, having already made 61 league appearances for Bournemouth despite largely being seen as second-choice, and he has begun his senior international career with three caps for the Republic of Ireland. That experience at such a young age is quite hard to come by.

His age means he has plenty of time to improve as a keeper; many don’t start their senior Premier League career until their late twenties, whilst Travers has almost 20 appearances in the top-flight so far. However, game time may be limited at the Vitality whilst acting as understudy to Neto, and thus the Brazilian may need other competition should the Irishman depart for Stoke.

Sarkic was on loan at the bet365 Stadium last season, but whilst the club mixed and matched between the Montenegro international, Josef Bursik and Jack Bonham, only the latter remaining at the club now means that Stoke need to dip into the market.

Whilst Bonham has made 45 appearances for Stoke in the last two years, his lack of Championship experience so far in his career means that someone with a mentality forged in a higher league would be ideal to both challenge him and raise his levels of performance.

With Travers five years his junior, Stoke would be acquiring a longer-term option, whilst Bonham would fill in as a decent backup and strong competition for the current Cherries keeper. Bursik’s move to Club Brugge has given the club some money to spend in the goalkeeping department, and so Travers could well be an inspired signing.

Furthermore, Travers achieving promotion to the Premier League already means that Neil would be adding a born winner to his ranks - a strong move all-round.