Kostas Stafylidis could be the first signing of the Paul Lambert era at Stoke City – and the second full-back to join this month.

The 24-year-old left-back is being lined up to offer competition and cover for Erik Pieters on a loan deal from Bundesliga side Augsburg.

Pieters has missed five of the last six games and limped off injured in the other, having sustained a hamstring injury when Stoke were a goal down in 3-0 defeat to West Ham last month.

He was Mark Hughes’s first signing himself and had previously barely missed a match since he arrived from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2013.

(Image: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Stafylidis, who can also play at wing-back, spent time on loan at Fulham in the Championship in 2014-15 before joining Augsburg.

The quick and athletic defender, a set piece specialist, came to the fore last season but has hardly been picked by manager Manuel Baum this season.

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He had been close to a switch to Hamburg last summer, which reportedly led to disagreements when it fell through. He has also spent time in the treatment room - and found it difficult to dislodge Philipp Max, who has weighed in with 10 assists and a goal from left-back.

(Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Stafylidis - who played alongside Ibrahim Afellay at PAOK in Greece - had already been linked with Roma and Fiorentina this month as an exit seemed inevitable but Lambert's links with Augsburg may have helped direct him to England.

The new boss visited Augsburg in mid-October to meet up with his former Borussia Dortmund teammate Stefan Reuter, who is the club’s general manager.

Reuter told the German press this morning: "The deal is not yet official but it is in the last leg."

Stoke have already brought in Austria right-back Moritz Bauer, who made his debut at Manchester United on Monday, as they try to turn around their defensive record and pull away from the Premier League relegation zone.