Jonathan Walters submits transfer request — Twitter reacts

According to a well-known journalist on Twitter, Stoke striker Jonathan Walters has submitted a transfer request as he seeks a move away from the Britannia Stadium.

Already, Stoke fans are talking of bitterness towards the Irish striker — one who has saved us on numerous occasions.

Maybe they’re being a tad harsh, though.

Walters is hardly in his ‘prime’; the 31 year-old has been with Stoke since completing a £2.75m move from Ipswich Town in 2010. Since then, he’s bagged himself more than 30 goals in 178 appearances — with most of those being from a right-wing or supporting-the-front-man position.

He does, however, epitomise everything that has been Stoke City in the Premier League.

Dogged, determined, unrelentless, tiredless…

But the changing-of-the-guard continues and, in negotiations that have rumbled on over the summer, it’s become apparent that the Club and Walters just couldn’t agree on a mutually-beneficial extension to a contract that runs out in barely ten months time.

The result? Dropped from the squad on Saturday against West Bromwich Albion — and the news this evening that a request to leave has been made.

Don’t blame Walters for this; not so quickly, at least.

“Stoke City said that I could only leave if I put in a transfer request, because they did not want to look bad.” — Danny Higginbotham

It wouldn’t be the first time that the Stoke management had asked — or demanded — a player submit a transfer request (and it be made public) before the transfer taking place. Danny Higginbotham wrote about the exact same scenario, just a few days ago.

As much as I’d hate to see ‘Jon-boy’ leave us, maybe it is time that he moved on. As we continue to develop as a team, I genuinely question whether there’s anything that we can offer him that he can reciprocally offer ourselves.

Forget about any ‘transfer requests’. Lets just remember him for that perfect hattrick — and that win at Wembley…