Stoke end James interest

Posted Saturday, January 16, 2010 by PA

Stoke have ended their interest in Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, the club have confirmed.

Potters boss Tony Pulis said on Thursday he was keen on bringing the England international to the Britannia Stadium on a short-term deal. However, those plans have now been shelved.

Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has revealed the deal collapsed over a disagreement between the two clubs over wages.

Storrie claims the Potters were looking to pay only part of James' wages and were expecting cash-strapped Pompey to make up the rest.

He told Sky Sports News: "As far as I am concerned, if a fellow Premier League side want to take a Premier League player, then pay his wages. Why bother even ringing if they are not going to pay his wages?

"They wanted to pay part of his wages, an appearance fee and some more money if they stay in the Premier League."

And Storrie claimed there was also another issue that made the deal unacceptable.

He added: "They only wanted to do that until the end of the season, where generally if you take a loan of a Premier League player, you pay it until June 30, the end of his contract period.

"I don't think we were being unreasonable. When we want to sign players on loan from the Premier League we have to pay them until June 30.

"I made it abundantly that even if we had wanted to let David go, which had not yet been defined, it wasn't worth us going down that line until there was an offer on the table that was reasonably acceptable."