Stoke City are hoping to complete the loan signing of Haminu Dramani from Locomotive Moscow by Friday but manager Tony Pulis says the deal has been more complex than he expected.

Pulis is taking on Dramani on the recommendation of his assistant David Kemp and says the English club have now completed their part of the deal.

"Everything at our end has now been completed and we are just awaiting some signatures from the other parties involved," he told the club's official website.

The more complex it is the longer it is going to take to get sorted.

"We are pressing and pressing, and hopefully very imminently we will be able to make an announcement."

Pulis says the deal that has been held up by issues over work permit are further complicated by the agents involved.

"The work permit issue always takes a day or two, even if it is pretty straightforward which this one should be, it still takes time.

"We aren't signing a lad from Wolverhampton or Manchester here; we are taking a Ghanaian from a team in Moscow.

"There are African agents involved, Russian agents involved and we have got an English agent involved as well, so it isn't going to be easy.

"The thing is with this sort of deal, the more complex it is the longer it is going to take to get sorted. That doesn't mean that things aren't being done correctly, it just means things are a little bit harder to get completed."

Dramani has three goals, including one at the 2006 World Cup game against the United States of America, in 27 international games for Ghana.