Stoke City closing in on transfer agreement for Plymouth Argyle record-breaker | OneFootball

The Potters are set to make their second signing of the summer in the shape of Plymouth Argyle's Maksym Talovierov.

Stoke City are closing in on a deal for Plymouth Argyle defender Maksym Talovierov.

Mark Robins is leading the club through his first summer transfer window as Potters boss, after taking over at the bet365 Stadium in January.

Having failed to record a top-half finish since their relegation from the Premier League in 2018, the former Coventry City manager is hoping he can be the man to finally bring the club back towards the upper reaches of the Championship next term.

Sorba Thomas has already signed on the dotted line this summer, and now they look set to bolster their backline with a raid on newly relegated League One side, Plymouth Argyle.

Stoke set to sign Plymouth's Maksym Talovierov

As revealed via his X account on Tuesday morning, journalist Pete O'Rourke has claimed that Stoke City are closing in on securing the signature of Plymouth's Maksym Talovierov.

The 25-year-old centre-back only signed for Argyle in January, in what was a deal with Austrian side LASK that saw him become the club's new record signing, which is reported to have been a deal worth around £1.7m.

A Ukraine international, the big, powerful central defender made a real impact for the Pilgrims in the second half of last season, despite missing a number of weeks between mid-March-late April with a knee injury.

When he did play, however, Talovierov put in some excellent performances at the back under then-manager Miron Muslic, and made a big contribution to Argyle's valiant, yet ill-fated effort to avoid relegation.

He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Plymouth upon signing for the club in January, meaning he is contracted at Home Park until June 2028.

Talovierov will provide Mark Robins with a major boost to his centre-back options

Robins isn't blessed with strength in depth when it comes to his centre-back options, but Talovierov's signing would change that.

Michael Rose has left the club after Stoke confirmed he, alongside Enda Stevens, Jordan Thompson and Lynden Gooch respectively, would all be leaving the club following the expiration of their contracts this summer.

That has left the Potters boss with just Ben Wilmot and Ben Gibson as his two remaining senior, and indeed natural, centre-back options.

Gibson is now 32, and didn't quite have the debut season in the Potteries that he would've been hoping for, whilst Wilmot is heading into the final 12 months of his contract with the club.

As such, if Robins is to break Stoke's bottom-half curse in 2025/26, then bolstering and upgrading his options in the heart of his defence is a clear priority this summer.

Therefore, adding a defender in Talovierov who is yet to enter the prime years of his career as a central defender, and has shown himself to be a quality player at Championship level, could be a highly shrewd piece of business by the Potters.