Stoke City are confident of completing the signing of Newcastle centre-back Abdoulaye Faye in time for him to face Aston Villa.Faye has agreed personal terms and a £2.25million fee has been agreed between the clubs, but the paperwork has left the club frustrated.
Chief executive Tony Scholes has explained how the club are working hard to resolve the issue in order that Faye can make his debut against Villa.
"Everything has been agreed with Abdoulaye, in fact it was all agreed at the back end of last week," said Scholes.
"Unfortunately the work permit situation isn't as straightforward because he hasn't played the requisite number of games for the application to go straight through.
"However, having gone through it with Abdoulaye the reason he hasn't played the games is because he has been injured.
"We have been in constant contact with the home office and we have got an agreement with them that providing we can prove he wasn't selected because he was injured then they will approve that work permit application.
"What we require from that, to put it simply, is a certification from the international team doctor that he was not fit or available for selection in those games. Then we need a statement from the international team manager confirming that had the player been fit he would have selected him.
"We are chasing it constantly and we have got staff here working on it right now. Hopefully we get it all through in time from the Senegalese federation because we want him registered in time for Saturday's game against Aston Villa."
