Paris Saint-Germain outcast Jese Rodriguez has put an end to talks with Serie A giants Fiorentina in order to secure a move to Stoke, reports Italian daily La Nazione, via AS.
Jese is free to leave PSG this summer after making no impression at the club following his transfer from Real Madrid 12 months ago.
The 24-year-old returned to Spain to join Las Palmas on loan at the start of the year but is now seeking a permanent move away from the Ligue 1 giants following the arrival of Neymar.
Fiorentina had identified Jese as the ideal replacement for Federico Bernardeschi, who join Juventus earlier this summer, but the Spaniard has no interest in moving to Italy.
Instead, Jese is determined to secure a move to the Premier League and is now reportedly close to joining Stoke.
Middlesbrough were interested in securing his loan services in January before he opted to return to Spain and it would be a major coup for Mark Hughes’ side if they landed the former Spain U21 international.
Hughes is keen to bolster his offensive options in the wake of Marko Arnautovic’s departure and is now poised to sign Jese, having already added former Schalke winger Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting on a free transfer this month.
Jese’s loan stint at Las Palmas was extremely underwhelming. He only managed to score three times in 16 league appearances and the Spanish side had a far superior win ratio over the course of the campaign without him in the starting XI (32%) compared to when he was selected from the off (15.4%).
