Sign up NOW for your daily Stoke City newsletter straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Hannover 96 sporting director Horst Heldt has confirmed the club are trying to sign a new centre-back as Kevin Wimmer’s winless run extends to nine games.

Stoke City and Wimmer had hoped he would find his feet back in the Bundesliga after a torrid year in the Potteries after joining from Spurs.

He cost an initial £15m when brought in by Mark Hughes as a key signing in the summer of 2017 – and it is evident he will never trigger £3m in additional clauses, despite having a contract until 2022.

Stoke managed to secure a £1m loan deal at Hannover, who are covering all his wages and agreed a £10.5m purchase option ready for if he rediscovered his form.

(Image: RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images)

The 25-year-old scored on his debut in a 6-0 DFB Cup thrashing of Karlsruhe but has since struggled to hold down a place in the starting XI.

He has made eight appearances in the Bundesliga, including two as sub, three of which have ended in draws and five defeats. Hannover were also knocked out of the cup at home against Wolfsburg.

Wimmer came on as a first-half sub at 0-0 at Schalke at the weekend after a muscle tear injury to Felipe Martins and, following a 3-1 defeat, Heldt admitted that injuries and form were going to force them back into the market .

Wimmer, Waldemar Anton and Josip Elez are the only available defenders as things stand and Hannover have conceded 21 in their first 10 league games of the season.

(Image: OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Badou Ndiaye made it two Stoke players in four days to lose at Schalke as Galatasaray went down to a 2-0 Champions League defeat last night.

Badou was not happy, saying: “We came here for three points. We knew we could do this. Schalke are not a good team and we were aware of this but, unfortunately, a very early goal (Guido Burgstaller opened the scoring in the fourth minute) has changed our spirits.

“We can describe it as a very sad and frustrating defeat.”

Galatasaray are third in Group D, four points behind Schalke and six behind Porto with two games remaining. As it stands they are likely to be heading to the Europa League.

Giannelli Imbula’s Rayo Vallecano were denied by Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez in a thriller against Barcelona, eventually losing 3-2.

Julien Ngoy’s Grasshopper Zurich sit 10 in the Swiss Super League. The 21-year-old forward has started three times and four sub appearances as he chases a first goal.