According to Sky Sports, Premier League Stoke City are on the verge of signing Dutch international attacking midfielder Ibrahim Afellay on a free transfer.
The 29-year-old had previously been contracted to European champions Barcelona, but his contract expired earlier this month.
Afellay struggled to feature for the Catalan giants after joining them from PSV Eindhoven in 2011. The versatile star made just 21 La Liga appearances for Barcelona and was sent out on-loan to Greek giants Olympiakos last season, were he made 19 appearances in the Greek top-flight and scored eight times.
He also spent time on-loan at Bundesliga outfit Schalke during his four and a half year spell at the Nou Camp.
Afellay was regarded as a star of the future at PSV and when he joined Barcelona. Unfortunately he has not fulfilled his potential, largely due to terrible luck with injuries.
Despite his time spent on the sidelines through injury Afellay has still managed to win 50 caps for his country and score six goals as well.
The attacking midfielder could prove to be a very good signing for the Potters, if, and that is a big if he can stay clear of injury. He is still rated as a very good technical player and if it were not for injuries would probably have enjoyed a more productive club career.
Stoke have been looking to sign an attacking midfielder during the transfer window and had a bid accepted for Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri earlier this summer, only for the Inter star to turn down the move to Staffordshire.
Can Ibrahim Afellay remain relatively injury-free at Stoke?
