Charlie Adam targets Europe as Xherdan Shaqiri agrees personal terms with Stoke

Xherdan Shaqiri was at The Britannia Stadium on Sunday for Stoke’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool

XHERDAN SHAQIRI has undergone a medical and agreed personal terms with Stoke after Everton cooled their interest in the Switzerland international.

 

Everton had agreed a loan deal with Inter Milan on Friday for Shaqiri, but have subsequently taken a backward step after the player insisted he still wanted to speak to Stoke and Newcastle.

Shaqiri is also understood to favour moving permanently from Inter and was at The Britannia Stadium on Sunday for Stoke’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Stoke manager Mark Hughes is hopeful of finally landing Shaqiri in a £13.5m deal having seen the playmaker stall on a move earlier in the summer. 

Meanwhile, Charlie Adam believes Stoke should target qualifying for Europe next season as he moved on from Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to former club Liverpool.

 

“The ambition is to try to get into Europe,” said the midfielder. “That would be a massive achievement. This is only one game, there are 37 more to go. 

“At the end of the day we want to get into Europe, we want to taste it and that would be a step forward for us.

“We just need to try to get a few results early in the season because the last couple of seasons we have started slowly but finished well. 

“If we can pick it up from the start and finish well, it should be a good season.”