Stoke star lodges transfer request to get Norwich move

Player power, once so prominent in football, looks to have died in the summer of 2015 as a third Premier League player submits a written transfer request in a bid to force a move away, and is told it’s unlikely to change matters.

Following in the footsteps of two of the more hotly discussed transfer sagas of the transfer window, Stoke’s Jon Walters, just like Everton’s John Stones and West Brom’s Saido Berahino, has told his manager he wants to leave.

That’s amid interest from Premier League newcomers Norwich, who have already had two bids for the Irish forward rejected.

Walters, who has scored 34 goals in 178 games for the Potters, is angry with the Britannia Stadium outfit at what he perceives as an undervaluation of his services and now wants to become a Canary.

However, in the same way that Stones and Berahino have seen their pleas to leave fall on deaf ears, the bullish striker is likely to be told by Mark Hughes that he has no interest in selling.

That is unless Norwich meet the Potters’ £3m valuation of Walters, who is in the last 10 months of his contract.

Prickliness between the player and his club began when he became unhappy with the terms offered on a renewed contract at Stoke, with Norwich clearly dangling far better terms in front of the 31-year-old international.

Martin O’Neill, the Republic of Ireland manager, has granted Walters leave from the national team’s training in order to sort out his club future on deadline day, but Stoke’s stubbornness over keeping the star could see them win out.

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