Stoke pull out of deal for England keeper James

Stoke City pulled out of a deal to sign England goalkeeper David James from Premier League strugglers Portsmouth on Friday.

City boss Tony Pulis had hoped to sign James, 39, on loan until the end of the season with a view to the former Liverpool star making a permanent switch to the Britannia Stadium when his Pompey contract expires in June.

But the move appears to have stalled over Stoke’s desire for Portsmouth to continue paying a portion of James’s wages and the club’s chief executive Tony Scholes confirmed to Sky Sports News that the deal is off.

James has made just one first-team appearance for Portsmouth in the past two months due to injury and his departure from Fratton Park would have helped to ease Pompey’s financial troubles, while putting him back in contention to be England’s goalkeeper at the World Cup.

Pulis was also keen to land James after reports that Denmark international Thomas Sorensen, Stoke’s first choice keeper, wants to join German club Bayern Munich.