Kevin Wimmer Says Joining Stoke Became An Easy Decision After Fruitful Discussions With Mark Hughes

Stoke City have signed themselves a talented young centre-back in Kevin Wimmer, having brought the Austrian in from Tottenham for an £18m fee on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old, who began his career at FC Edt before moving on to LASK Linz and FC Koln, joined Tottenham two years ago in a £4.3m deal, but has decided to move on after making a disappointing 15 Premier League appearances for the London side since 2015.

Having become a target for several clubs over the summer, Wimmer revealed that a Potters move was all he wanted after holding talks with manager Mark Hughes.

“I had some really good conversations with the manager, Mark Hughes, and they were important for me," the defender told Stoke's official website.

“He is a very good manager and I like the way he approaches the game, his style of play suits the way I like to play too - he likes his defenders to be able to play out with the ball.

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"First and foremost I am here to help defend, but I am confident with the ball at my feet and I like to get the ball forward with accurate passes through the middle or up to the guys at the top end of the field.

“I am just so happy to be at Stoke now because I really wanted to come here, to a club with such big tradition, so I feel really good and am very excited about meeting up with everybody and getting ready for the matches ahead.”

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Hughes is quite happy with the recruitment of his newest acquisition, and views the current window as a successful one for Stoke. The only worry now, according to him, is keeping all of his players happy.

“I think what people will see and appreciate really early on is Kevin’s quality on the ball and his outstanding range of passing," the manager said.

“Of course, he is a big strong guy too, but he possesses a tremendous left foot and is able to play clever and intelligent balls into people’s feet, whether that be through the middle or on angles - he will certainly benefit us for years to come.

“The key for me, and the Club, is to get good players into the building and we have managed to do that this summer.

“My problem now is keeping them all happy, but believe me I would much rather have that problem than not.