Stoke City eyeing up hotshot Championship defender
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Stoke City could be the latest club to dip into the Championship market with Fulham defender Dan Burn the latest player on Mark Hughes’ radar.
The likes of Jamie Vardy and Charlie Austin have highlighted the strength of those plying their trade away from the top flight in recent years and Potters boss Hughes is expected to offer Burn, 23, another chance to prove himself in the Premier League after impressing for the Cottagers.
Burn has played in the top flight before for the Lilywhites but the west London club’s relegation means the majority of his career has been spent in the second tier.
Hughes has cast his eye over the Blyth-born defender on a couple of occasions already this term and believes he has the potential to emulate the success of Ryan Shawcross in the Potters’ defence.
Hughes has had to shuffle his pack on numerous occasions at the Britannia this season and will look to beef up his back line when the transfer window re-opens this summer.
Fulham are currently 20th in the Championship and looking more likely to drop into League One than they are to bounce back into the Premier League and as such it shouldn’t take a huge fee to convince the raven Cottage outfit to part company with the former Darlington defender.
The Cottagers paid just £350,000 for the defender in 2011 and with his contract expiring June this year it shouldn’t take too much more than that to acquire his services.
Stoke’s current back line is next in action at home to Newcastle on Wednesday and the Potters go into that game as the 19/20 favourites.
The Magpies can be backed at 10/3, with the draw on at 12/5, but with Hughes clearly concerned about his defensive unit the 3/1 on a home win with both sides finding the back of the net could be the way to go.
All odds and markets correct as of the date of publishing.
