POTTERS' TEMPO INCREASE

City looking for business to fall into place as countdown continues to the Championship season

- Peter Smith

STOKE City's summer transfer business is expected to accelerate as Wouter Burger's imminent departure sparks movement the other way.

Stoke have always been braced for offers for one of their first-team assets this summer, in the knowledge that a cash injection could be a bit of a tumbling domino in a window when they have to balance financial fair play constraints.

Burger said his goodbyes to teammates on Saturday and was left out of a friendly at Liverpool's training ground on Sunday as he flew out to Germany to complete a switch to Bundesliga club Hoffenheim.

Stoke have been planning for how they will make the most out of this position and Mark Robins will want to bolster numbers and bring in quality in central midfield and up front, as well as find extra cover in defence.

The recruitment department is in active talks on several fronts and Robins knows as well as anyone that it is a time for big and bold decision-making.