Stoke City are in talks with PSV Eindhoven left-back Erik Pieters over a potential summer move to the Britannia Stadium, according to
Team Talk. The Potters came close to signing the 24-year old back in January, only for the move to fall through due to the defender picking up an injury. But despite the departure of Tony Pulis and the appointment of Mark Hughes in his place, the Premier League outfit have retained an interest in the Holland international, who was expected to fly out to England at some point today to finalise the deal. The former Utrecht man made almost 100 appearances for PSV after they paid 2.5 million euros for his services back in 2008. He has also been capped 17 times by his country at senior level and, ever since the retirement of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, has been the first-choice left-back of the Netherlands team. Last May, Pieters was named in the provisional list of 36 players for Euro 2012, but did not recover in time for the competition due to injury which also scuppered his proposed move to Stoke in January. However, he is finally set to complete his move and will become Mark Hughes' second signing as Stoke boss since replacing Pulis. The former Manchester City manager has already
signed central midfielder Maurice Edu from Bursaspor.