Stoke City are again reported to be weighing up a move for Town skipper Jon Walters. The Potters were strongly linked with the 26-year-old in August 2008 but despite making an enquiry and reports claiming multiple bids, no offer was ever made.

Peter Reid, Stoke’s assistant manager, was at Portman Road on Sunday to watch the Republic of Ireland B international in action, having been at St James' Park for the Newcastle match the previous week, with a £4 million bid said to be in the offing.

Walters, who is contracted to the Blues until 2012, became Town’s skipper earlier in the season with manager Roy Keane a big fan.

Last week Keane hinted that the club might have received some interest in the former Bolton and Blackburn trainee: “I think Jon Walters has been amazing this year, his captaincy has been excellent and he’s been a joy to work with - his leadership skills in the dressing room when we were under the cosh and last weekend, aside from his goal, he was outstanding.

“There will be plenty of clubs — there are already — who would be keen to take Jon Walters.

”I’m not going to kid myself that I’ll just be bringing players in, I’m going to have hard work keeping some of our players.”

Town signed Walters for £100,000 plus extras which would ultimately take the deal to £200,000 from Chester City in January 2007. Chester would have been entitled to 20% of any sell-on had the club not gone out of business earlier in the season.

Photo: Action Images

jas0999 added 19:43 - May 4 I am available to drive Walters to his medical. It's a dismal trip, but I would even be prepared to buy him a small snack from a motorway service station en route. Walters was for me the WORST player for town this season. dreadful in fact. £4M is daylight robbery. TAKE IT!!!!!!!!
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fatronaldo added 19:58 - May 4 Sell sell sell if it's true!
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edd16 added 20:05 - May 4 keane play counago next season please he is a hell of a player ole ole ole ole pablo pablo ole ole ole ole pablo pablo
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rayado_ingles added 20:16 - May 4 Hmmm i dont understand why some people still have the mentality that we are a selling club.. we don't NEED to sell him, surely if we get rid of the dead wood (maybe some for a fee) Evans will still make cash available. Hopefully we will be buying young-ish proven lower league players i.e. hooper rather than people like edwards for inflated prices... why sell Walters when we dont need to. It will be hard graft finding another player like him... and whoever said they think walters has been the WORST player this season, dunno what you're on, but did you never see Martin play? or Healy? or Priskin?

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jas0999 added 20:51 - May 4 rayado_ingles; fair comment. Yes Healy was dreadful. I'll take it back BUT Walters was certainly up there as one of the worst players this season. I'll stick with dreadful though.
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SurreyITFC added 20:59 - May 4 I would not want Walters to leave as his work ethic and desire on the pitch is something to be admired as there are plenty of players who just don't bother working hard!
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alfromcol added 21:07 - May 4 JW's work rate is good, but it has to be to chase the ball about pitch like a schoolboy player. Take any offer over the original purchase price. I feel that some of our problems with the shape of the team in a number of matches is JW running about all over the pitch and disrupting the shape of the team. Can't honestly see why RK rates him so highly.
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buryblue77 added 21:09 - May 4 Not had the best season admittedly, but I'd rather have Walters than not. Having said that, if anyone came in with an offer of £4m it's good business and probably should be accepted.
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titanicclown added 21:54 - May 4 Good Lad that Walters is he really doesn't fit into a 4-4-2. Particularly if RK is going to play GL and DN in the centre of midfield then the creativity needs to come from the wide areas. This is one of the biggest tactical errors that RK is yet to work out. With Walters on the right and Colback on the left we've had no creativity in the midfield at all. Sell Walters not cause he's a bad player but becuase he's simply not the player we need. Ambrose Norris Leadbitter Civelli has a better ring to it. We need to get real though noone is going to pay £4 million for him. £750k would be more likely.

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SonOfSpock added 22:28 - May 4 If the value is correct, snap their arm off! Great work rate and good attitude but not prolific enough as a striker and lacks the guile and creativity for a right midfielder. I wish Walters the best if he does move on.
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thebeat added 22:49 - May 4 Roy Keane's words : “I think Jon Walters has been amazing this year, his captaincy has been excellent and he's been a joy to work with - his leadership skills in the dressing room when we were under the cosh and last weekend, aside from his goal, he was outstanding. I must have been at the wrong ground for a whole season because the Jon Walters i watched this year has been total pants, he's not a striker and since he got injured a few years back he's lost that bit of pace he had to play on the wing and his game is poorer for it, i'd snap Stoke's hand off cus he aint gona get any better than what he is now

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SitfcB added 23:32 - May 4 We need to keep hold of our best players, how can some of you say he has been our worst player this season. He was our top goalscorer, albeit with 8 goals but still. Ok, so he wasnt the man he was 2 seasons ago, he knows that hiself. He has played every game this season except 3 and only missed them through injury or suspension. He loves the club, he is commited. We need more players like him, he is a decent bloke in general. Ok £4Mill, its a lot of money, but say we keep hold of him and he scores the winner at Wembley next season....How much would that be worth???

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bennyblue added 23:46 - May 4 thats a lot of money we could spend at the sunderland supermarket
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floridaboy added 07:17 - May 5 Take the money Roy and use it on player/s who will be of more benefit to the side. Very overrated and has not been the same since he was not allowed to join the premiership by Magilton a couple of years ago £4m is about £2m more than he is worth - Evans/Clegg/Keane please take it now and use it to better the side
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50yearsablue added 09:36 - May 5 I accept that forums like this tend to attract the self-opinionated (so why am I commenting?) and may not mirror supporters' opinions at large but I am so often surprised at the fickle, knee jerk comments that any story attracts. Supporters, conveniently, have very short memories and don't seem to be able to view the bigger picture. I almost fall about laughing when so many people know better than Keane and just about any manager when they have zero experience of even running a pub team. We make our judgements based on 90 minutes per fortnight and information we glean from the media. Some of the remarks made about Walters are a bit extreme and totally fail to recognise his value to the team. In common with most others, and acknowledged by him, he has not had a good season but we are being very unkind to slate him in these columns. I am no more impressed with many of the previous posts than I have been with ITFC performances this season so a little bit of inward looking all round would not go amiss.

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Surco72 added 11:13 - May 5 Jas00999 if Walters has been so terrible this year do you not think that it was bad management by Keane to keep playing him ? As he did with Trotter/Bruce/Martin/Healy and Priskin for so long at the start of the season when they were not performing ?
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samassiabou added 18:00 - May 5 4 mill is a great offer for JW...however we cant get afford to lose one of our best players..and lets face it we dont need the money!
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runaround added 20:46 - May 5 If Stoke are really going to offer £4million for Walters then i think we should take it. As has previously been mentioned he is not the player he was 2 seasons ago and whilst his effort can not be questioned he does seem to unbalance the team at times. In recent games, when he has supposed to be right midfield, he often seems to be anywhere but meaning we had no option on the right. Keane says he is a great captain in the dressing room but i have not really seen him urging team mates on when on the field, it tends to be Leadbitter and Norris geeing people up. Yes he's been a good servant for ITFC but £4million would be excellent business and allow us to strengthen in other areas

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blueherts added 22:45 - May 5 Three seasons out of a player who cost £100k - best bit of business in years and then to possibly sell him for £4m - get that man back at the helm!!! Agree if we are gonna buy I find it hard to see him fit in to a side He is from the NW and family wanted to move back so maybe a good chance to take money Hey Stoke are a top half Prem team now so fair play to em
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robdaful added 17:37 - May 4 I predict if stoke buy him in 2011 they will be in the FA Cup Final :P
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