Stoke have pulled out of a deal to sign veteran Portsmouth
goalkeeper David James on loan for the rest of the season.
James had been lined up for a move to the Britannia Stadium
as manager Tony Pulis sought to increase competition for places in
his squad.
Pulis was hoping to wrap up the deal in time for the
39-year-old to be available to face his former club Liverpool on
Saturday lunchtime.
However, the switch was not finalised before Friday's noon
deadline, prompting Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes to confirm
the deal is now off.
The transfer to Stoke was viewed as an ideal move for all
parties with James looking to impress enough to guarantee his place
in the England squad for the World Cup in South Africa.
The keeper has made just one first-team appearance in the
past two months due to injury, while his departure from Fratton
Park would also have helped to ease Pompey's financial troubles.
And Pulis was keen to add James to his squad due to rumours
concerning the future of Stoke's current No.1 Thomas Sorensen.
The Denmark international has been linked with German giants
Bayern Munich and Pulis was wary about being left with Steve
Simonsen as his only senior keeper.
Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie later 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.
Storrie 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."
