Hughes: Johnson signs, Begovic to Chelsea
Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has confirmed the signing of Glen Johnson and said he fully expects Asmir Begovic to join Chelsea.
Stoke have had a busy few days in the transfer market, with former Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given signing a two-year contract and Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel arriving on loan, while Steven N’Zonzi has completed a move to Sevilla.
Hughes has now confirmed a Sky Sports report that England right-back Johnson, 30, is on his way to the Britannia Stadium after his contract at Liverpool expired.
“Glen’s a very experienced player,” Hughes told Sky Sports News. “We obviously feel that the qualities that he has will help us.
“We’re a team that’s trying to progress and you do that by getting good players into your squad and they will help us.
“Glen has played at a high level for a very long time and we can benefit from that.”
He said Given will provide “good competition,” but Stoke are set to finally make 22-year-old Jack Butland their first-choice goalkeeper after signing him from Birmingham in 2013, with Begovic closing in on a move to Chelsea.
Sources told ESPN FC that Chelsea offered Van Ginkel to Stoke as part of the deal for Begovic, and Hughes confirmed the 28-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina international is set for a move to Stamford Bridge.
As far as I’m aware he’s likely to travel to Chelsea and that will be concluded,” he said.
Asked if he was surprised Begovic is willing to sacrifice first-team football, given that Thibaut Courtois is Chelsea’s clear No. 1, Hughes said: “People are assuming that but having worked with Asmir, you’d back his ability and you would think he would challenge and get game time or he wouldn’t have gone there.”
Hughes also confirmed that Inter Milan’s Xherdan Shaqiri will not be joining the club.
ESPN FC was told earlier this month that Stoke had agreed a £12 million fee for the former Bayern Munich winger, but Sky Italia has recently reported that the Switzerland international prefers a move to Schalke.
“We expressed an interest,” Hughes said. “We put a bid in but we needed to set a deadline really. We’ve got other irons in the fire. We’ve stepped aside.”
The Stoke boss said he hopes Van Ginkel will prove an adept replacement for N’Zonzi and said he had been interested in the Dutch midfielder before he left Vitesse for Chelsea in 2013.
“Marco is a player that we’ve been aware of for quite some time,” he said. “We had to step aside [when Chelsea bought him].
“He had a bad injury obviously which set him back but he’s fit and well now.
“We’re delighted we’ve been able to bring in a good young player.”
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