Stoke City on the verge of landing Eastern European starlet in seven-figure deal

Young Serbian winger Nikola Jojic looks set to sign for the Potters in somewhat of a surprise deal

After somewhat of a quiet year in the transfer market in the 2022-23 season, Stoke City have showed their ambitions for the campaign ahead with their business this summer.

With the EFL’s Profit & Sustainability regulations somewhat of an issue last year, the Potters signed just free transfers and loanees under Michael O’Neill and then Alex Neil, but behind the scenes they were restructuring the finances and it has allowed them to make big moves this year.

The sale of Harry Souttar to Leicester City in January for £15 million has also helped with that, but money has been spent on the permanent additions of Ben Pearson, Ryan Mmaee and Andre Vidigal, whilst multiple loanees have arrived at the Bet365 Stadium as well as free transfers.

Stoke’s new-look side got off to the perfect start on the opening day of the 2023-24 season when they smashed Rotherham United 4-1, and starting on the right-hand side of attack that day was Jacob Brown, who scored seven times for City in the Championship last season.

However, in a quick-moving deal, Brown has now departed for Premier League newboys Luton Town, leaving Neil and his recruitment team needing more bodies in attack.

And it looks as though they are set to add at least one new face in the near future as according to Football Insider, a deal is close to being agreed for Serbian starlet Nikola Jojic.

How much are Stoke City set to pay for Nikola Jojic?

The 19-year-old winger plies his trade for Mladost Lucani in the Serbian SuperLiga, and per a report from Sportklub on Monday, their sporting director Nenad Milovanović stated that the two clubs were in negotiations to sell the teenager to the Potters.

A fee of around €1.4 million (£1.2 million) is believed to have been agreed for Jojic, who now looks set to complete a move to the Staffordshire outfit.

Who is Nikola Jojic?

A left-footed attacker, Jojic is a Serbia under-21 international – although his only appearance to date came in the position of left-back, which is a far cry from where he plays his football at club level.

Jojic made his senior debut for Mladost in July 2021 when coming off the bench against Red Star Belgrade in a league match at the age of 17, but he remained in the under-19’s for the majority of the 2021-22 campaign, where he netted 21 times in 25 appearances.

The youngster really made a name for himself last season though at Mladost, coming into the setup on a full-time basis despite only being 18 years of age at the start of the season, scoring eight times and assisting a further 10 goals over the course of the campaign.

Jojic has even showed his versatility as despite playing most of his matches on the right flank where he cuts onto his stronger left foot, he has also played through the middle in midfield on occasions at club level.

It looks very much like Jojic is being recruited by Stoke for their wide areas though and it wouldn’t be their first venture into the Eastern European market this summer, having signed striker Mmaee from Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros.