Maxim Choupo-Moting Stoke CityAlex Morton

PSG's weirdest transfer window ever comes to close with bizarre Stoke signing

The transfer window is taking a bizarre turn for Paris Saint-Germain, who are set to close their business with the signing of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting from Stoke.

The 29-year-old attacker will leave the Championship side for the Ligue 1 champions this week after he travelled to the French capital to sign a contract.

The Cameroon international will reunite with his former Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel at PSG in what has been a strange twist to the end of the window for the club.

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They had been eyeing late moves for Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng and Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic, while Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen were also linked, though PSG dismissed reports of interest in the latter.

Choupo-Moting is not the only piece of business PSG are still trying to wrap up before the deadline.

They are still in talks with Stanislav Lobotka’s agent, even though they are yet to put forward an offer for the Celta and Slovakia midfielder. Meanwhile, they look set to lose goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who missed training on Thursday to organise a late loan move to Eintracht Frankfurt.

The window has not been as glamorous as many expected for PSG. Whereas this time last year they had welcomed Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to Parc des Princes in record-breaking deals, the summer of 2018 has been relatively quiet.

The prospect of Neymar or Mbappe leaving for Real Madrid continues to loom over Paris, but they have fought the speculation off, as the Brazilian has confirmed he is staying and the European champions denied reports they had bid for both of them.

The arrival of World Cup winner and renowned star Gianluigi Buffon on a free transfer is an exemplary piece of business from PSG, while Thilo Kehrer joined in a €37 million (£33m/$42m) deal from Schalke. Meanwhile, Goncalo Guedes, Javier Pastore and Yuri Berchiche all departed the French capital.

But the French side have already started the season with silverware, beating Monaco 4-0 in the Trophee des Champions, while they are top of the French top flight with three wins from three games.

Tuchel’s team have been given a tough group in the Champions League, having been drawn in the same pool as Napoli, Liverpool and Red Star Belgrade.

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