Diao signing 'still on' for Stoke

Salif Diao's agent has said that Stoke still remain the favourites to win the player's signature.

Agent, Charles Collymore told the Sentinel: 'Talks are ongoing and I can't put a time scale on when something might happen. I can't comment on the reasons for Salif not joining a club yet, but obviously we're hoping to have something sorted sooner rather than later.'

With most fans assuming that the delay was down to the player wanting more cash than the Potters were prepared to splash, Tony Pulis had said a couple of weeks ago that this was not the case and the delay was due to personal reasons on Diao's part. This seems to be borne out by the fact that he has not signed for anyone else (despite being a free agent) and his agent is still adamant that he wants to sign for the Potters, whilst refusing to give any reasons for the delay.

As we've said before, the delay (for whatever reason) has been damaging to the Stoke management's credibility and hardly endeared Diao to Stoke fans who feel that the former Liverpool midfielder has just been on the look out for a more lucrative offer. If there really are genuine personal reasons why he has not signed, let's hope that they're sorted out soon and we can get him signed up and back into the first team line-up quickly.

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