Tony Pulis believes that he will be signing an ultra-fit player with a point to prove should David James complete his loan move from Portsmouth to Stoke City today.
As the clubs spent last night haggling over how to divide the player’s wage costs between now and the end of June, the Stoke manager looked forward to enticing a highly motivated England goalkeeper to the Britannia Stadium.
Pulis is offering James, 39, the carrot of proving himself at a new club in time to re-establish his credentials as Fabio Capello’s first-choice goalkeeper at this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.
Fully fit after a calf injury, James has played 805 senior games for Watford, Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth, while collecting 48 caps for his country.
“He’s a top goalkeeper and if we can do it, he’ll be a good signing for the football club,” Pulis said. “If he comes to Stoke, he’s got good competition with Thomas Sorensen and Steve Simonsen. But he’s got the opportunity, if he gets in our team, to prove that he’s good enough to be on the plane going to South Africa.
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“That’s the big thing for me: he’s got a point to prove. If you’re signing experienced players, you’re looking at character all the time and to see if they’ve got a point to prove. The thing about him that everyone who works with him tells you is how fit he is, almost freakish in respect to his fitness.
“The terms of what we’re trying to do are private and confidential between ourselves and Portsmouth. This club is run very astutely. If they can’t afford the deal, we don’t do the deal. If it does go through, I tell you now it’ll be a cracking deal for us.”
Stoke were playing hardball last night as Portsmouth told James to prepare to face Birmingham City at Fratton Park. The Premier League’s bottom club, in dire financial straits, are eager to cut James from their wage bill, especially as it is thought that should he play another eight league games for them this season they would be obliged to offer him another 12-month contract.
That is a £2.5 million cost they can scarcely afford. But Stoke are not only arguing that Portsmouth should foot 50 per cent of James’s £40,000 weekly wage, but also that he would come on loan only until the end of the domestic season, namely May 9. His contract runs until the end of June, which would leave Portsmouth liable for the final £300,000 of his deal.
Tony Scholes and Peter Storrie, the chief executives of Stoke and Portsmouth respectively, were still negotiating last night, with Portsmouth hopeful that another club would come in for the player and thus give them bargaining power. Should the deal be struck by midday today, James would be in line to make his Stoke debut against Liverpool in tomorrow lunchtime’s televised match.