Dramani: Imminent arrival

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• Haminu Dramani

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Stoke are close to completing the signing of Haminu Dramani on a six-month loan deal from Lokomotiv Moscow.

The deal is subject to the midfielder receiving a work permit, while Tony Pulis is yet to see the Ghanaian play.

The brave Potters boss admits he is taking a gamble by bringing the 22-year-old to the Britannia Stadium, but insists he has total faith in the club's scouting network.

"Kempy (David Kemp, assistant manager) has watched him out in Russia this summer and likes what he sees," Pulis said.

"His judgment of a player is usually spot on so I have no problem trusting his opinion. He tells me he's quick and can play on either wing."

Issues

While Pulis expects the African ace to sign sooner rather than later, he conceded that the deal is far more complicated than those involving English-based players.

"Everything at our end has now been completed and we are just awaiting some signatures from the other parties involved," he told the club's official website.

"We are pressing and pressing, and hopefully very imminently we will be able to make an announcement.

"The work permit issue always takes a day or two, even if it is pretty straightforward which this one should be, it still takes time.

"We aren't signing a lad from Wolverhampton or Manchester here, we are taking a Ghanaian from a team in Moscow.

Complex

"There are African agents involved, Russian agents involved and we have got an English agent involved as well, so it isn't going to be easy.

"The thing is with these sort of deals, the more complex it is the longer it is going to take to get sorted.

"That doesn't mean that things aren't being done correctly, it just means things are a little bit harder to get completed.

"Even if we get it done today (Thursday) he won't be able to feature this weekend."