Stoke City are set to sign Ferencvaros striker Ryan Mmaee after a strange link to Preston North End amounted to nothing.
The North End fanbase are starting to wonder if Alex Neil will end up making a bid for Deepdale Duck at this rate.
We have seen Neil sign two of his former PNE players with Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson reuniting at the bet365 Stadium.
Neil then pounced to take coach Paul Gallagher to Stoke and the Potters have even allowed ex-North End midfielder Josh Onomah to join training.
Add in claims from The Sun’s Alan Nixon that Stoke want to sign Everton striker Tom Cannon and PNE fans are probably sick of hearing about the Potters.
Well, Neil has moved on from targeting his old PNE men and even some North End targets.
This time, it’s a player PNE denied having an interest in signing after a strange rumour earlier this summer.
Football Insider reported in June that North End made an offer to take Ferencvaros striker Ryan Mmaee on loan with the option for a £3million permanent move.
Fans were baffled; it’s not often that PNE dip into the European market and even less often that North End put big money on the table, so this one was bizarre from the get-go.
The bid was allegedly rejected but Tom Sandells completely played down any PNE interest in the Moroccan anyway.
There have unsurprisingly been no developments on a PNE move for Mmaee but Ryan Lowe will seemingly have to face him this season.
Hungarian reporter Bence Bocsák has taken to Twitter to claim that Stoke are close to finalising the signing of Mmaee.
The 25-year-old is now included in the squad for Ferencvaros against Shamrock Rovers tonight and is expected to join Neil’s Potters very soon.
Mmaee has been a major threat for Ferencvaros, hitting 32 goals and 15 assists in 73 appearances.
Now seemingly heading to Stoke, Mmaee will be in line to play against North End this coming season – and will hopefully take the Potters out of the Tom Cannon race.