Stoke City transfer swoop surely has knock-on effect for ex-Preston North End star

Stoke City are poised to complete the signing of Rotherham United goalkeeper Viktor Johansson which could spell bad news for Daniel Iversen.

The Potters look to have beaten off competition from their Championship rivals to secure the services of Johnasson next season. Multiple reports are saying that the Staffordshire club have activated the release clause in his contract which is around £1m.

Johansson was always expected to leave the New York Stadium after their relegation to League One and Stoke have moved the quickest. The Swedish goalkeeper was reported to have flown over back to the United Kingdom to complete his move and confirmation will come shortly.

It does however have an effect on Daniel Iversen, who was Stoke's goalkeeper for the second-half of the 2023/24 campaign. He joined on a six-month loan from Leicester City and played 19 times in all competitions keeping seven clean sheets.

The 26-year-old is out of favour at the King Power Arena but is still in contract with the Foxes until the summer of 2025. Mads Hermansen is their first choice goalkeeper with Jakub Stolarczyk acting as back-up. Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward is their third-choice option, and like Iversen he is in contract until 2025.

“I thought I should have gone last summer but that didn’t happen for some reason on Leicester’s side,” said Iversen in an interview earlier this year.

“I was disappointed. I tried to get on loan but I got a no. I tried to get sold, but got a no. So there was a little bit of frustration from my side. Now in the summer I will try again, but I don’t know where yet that will be. But my focus now is just to play here and get survival.”

Iversen had two separate loan spells at Deepdale in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 season. He played a total of 71 games with 23 clean sheets, helping the club to two consecutive 13th-placed finishes.

Preston North End have enough cover in the goalkeeping department with Freddie Woodman under contract until 2025. Back-up goalkeeper David Cornell penned a new contract earlier this year.