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This is Staffordshire --
STOKE City are waiting for an answer from Juan Agudelo before deciding whether to launch a second attempt to sign the American international.
The 21-year-old striker is mulling over several offers to move into Europe in January – including a long-term deal from Spanish giants Valencia.
He is thought to prefer a move to the Premier League with Stoke, but that is on ice after failing to secure a work permit last month.
Stoke are considering a second application, which can happen four months after the first, and that means they could even gamble on signing Agudelo in January and then await the outcome of the second hearing in mid-March.
The club would hope the timing come March would be far more favourable than when their first appeal was heard by an FA appointed panel on November 19.
That came soon after new Football Association chief Greg Dyke had criticised the lack of homegrown talent – and also came a day after England were beaten by Germany to complete back-to-back home defeats inside four days of each other.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes the Premier League has been critical of the Agudelo decision, while other top-flight clubs fearing a similar outcome have also questioned the appeal failure.
Stoke are also heartened by the fact that Aston Villa's American goalkeeper Brad Guzan was only admitted into this country at the second time of asking.
Agudelo, who is a free agent after his contract at New England Revolution expired, was due to officially join Stoke on a free on January 1.
Manager Mark Hughes has already said last month's application failure could cost Stoke £10m because of Agudelo's potential and future market value.
Agudelo himself has been in the Potteries this past week in what will be seen as something of a charm offensive by Stoke if they end up making a second application.
Sources close to Agudelo say he watched Saturday's momentous victory over Chelsea and saw or heard nothing to weaken his admiration for the Premier League.
Fellow target Luuk de Jong was watched at the weekend when he was an 83rd-minute substitute in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-1 home win over Schalke in the Bundesliga.
The 23-year-old Dutch striker has now appeared in 11 of Borussia's 15 fixtures, but all from the bench for a total of only 71 minutes playing time so far this season.
That, together with a reported fall out with manager Lucien Favre last season, appears to leave both him and his club ripe for a parting of the ways.
De Jong, who was selected for Holland's Euro 2012 squad, will also be desperate for regular first-team football to resurrect his chances of making their squad for next summer's World Cup finals.
Coates hails City win: Page 42 Reported by This is 1 hour ago.
Clik here to view.
This is Staffordshire --STOKE City are waiting for an answer from Juan Agudelo before deciding whether to launch a second attempt to sign the American international.
The 21-year-old striker is mulling over several offers to move into Europe in January – including a long-term deal from Spanish giants Valencia.
He is thought to prefer a move to the Premier League with Stoke, but that is on ice after failing to secure a work permit last month.
Stoke are considering a second application, which can happen four months after the first, and that means they could even gamble on signing Agudelo in January and then await the outcome of the second hearing in mid-March.
The club would hope the timing come March would be far more favourable than when their first appeal was heard by an FA appointed panel on November 19.
That came soon after new Football Association chief Greg Dyke had criticised the lack of homegrown talent – and also came a day after England were beaten by Germany to complete back-to-back home defeats inside four days of each other.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes the Premier League has been critical of the Agudelo decision, while other top-flight clubs fearing a similar outcome have also questioned the appeal failure.
Stoke are also heartened by the fact that Aston Villa's American goalkeeper Brad Guzan was only admitted into this country at the second time of asking.
Agudelo, who is a free agent after his contract at New England Revolution expired, was due to officially join Stoke on a free on January 1.
Manager Mark Hughes has already said last month's application failure could cost Stoke £10m because of Agudelo's potential and future market value.
Agudelo himself has been in the Potteries this past week in what will be seen as something of a charm offensive by Stoke if they end up making a second application.
Sources close to Agudelo say he watched Saturday's momentous victory over Chelsea and saw or heard nothing to weaken his admiration for the Premier League.
Fellow target Luuk de Jong was watched at the weekend when he was an 83rd-minute substitute in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-1 home win over Schalke in the Bundesliga.
The 23-year-old Dutch striker has now appeared in 11 of Borussia's 15 fixtures, but all from the bench for a total of only 71 minutes playing time so far this season.
That, together with a reported fall out with manager Lucien Favre last season, appears to leave both him and his club ripe for a parting of the ways.
De Jong, who was selected for Holland's Euro 2012 squad, will also be desperate for regular first-team football to resurrect his chances of making their squad for next summer's World Cup finals.
Coates hails City win: Page 42 Reported by This is 1 hour ago.