Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer completes £18m move to Stoke

Stoke City have confirmed their seventh signing of the summer transfer window to date, with defender Kevin Wimmer moving to the Potteries from Tottenham Hotspur.

In a refreshing change from the usual cloak-and-dagger secrecy involving the financial and contractual details of such moves, Stoke have confirmed an £18m ($23.3m) fee for the centre-back who has put pen to paper on a five-year deal at the bet365 Stadium.

That represents a tidy profit of approximately £14m for Spurs, who spent a little over £4m to recruit Wimmer from Cologne back in 2015.

Mauricio Pochettino struggled to afford regular opportunities to the 24-year-old during his two-year stint in north London and the arrival of Davinson Sanchez in a club-record £42m deal from Ajax appeared to push him even further down the pecking order.

Tottenham are also said to have secured the signature of Estudiantes defender Juan Foyth.

Crystal Palace, Southampton, West Ham United and several unnamed clubs from the Bundesliga and Serie A were also said to hold an interest in Wimmer, who only made 31 total appearances for Tottenham. However, the Austrian international settled on Stoke following good discussions with manager Mark Hughes.

"I had some really good conversations with the manager, Mark Hughes, and they were important for me," he told the club's official website. "He is a very good manager and I like the way he approaches the game, his style of play suits the way I like to play too - he likes his defenders to be able to play out with the ball.

"I am just so happy to be at Stoke now because I really wanted to come here, to a club with such big tradition, so I feel really good and am very excited about meeting up with everybody and getting ready for the matches ahead."

Hughes had already strengthened his centre-back options by recruiting Kurt Zouma on a season-long loan from Chelsea, while Stoke additionally sealed the permanent capture of former FC Porto loanee Bruno Martins Indi. Jese Rodriguez, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Darren Fletcher and Josh Tymon have also been signed in other areas, while Marko Arnautovic, Joselu, Jon Walters, Marc Muniesa, Glenn Whelan and Phil Bardsley all departed.

"Kevin is an undoubted talent and he will significantly add to the quality of the group of players that I already have at my disposal," Hughes said. "We put a real emphasis on trying to enhance the defensive areas of the squad this summer and we feel that we have been able to do that."

Wimmer is the fifth senior player to leave Tottenham on a permanent basis over recent weeks, with Kyle Walker, Nabil Bentaleb, Federico Fazio and Clinton Njie also finding pastures new. Young prospects Josh Onomah and Cameron Carter-Vickers were loaned to Aston Villa and Sheffield United respectively.