Stoke City defender Bruno Martins Indi has definitely left his mark on the Premier League this campaign. He would likely be nominated by almost any City fan for addition of this term.

The centre back has been reliable in his role for the club this season and has quickly grown among supporters.

Martins Indi has striking similarities with the club’s former captain Abdoulaye Faye and has quickly shown that he could be profitable business for the club. Since his debut in September, he has been reliable and commanding in the heart of the defence in every game he has played.

His record on the international scene is a bit different. He was snubbed for more than 12 months by Netherlands manager Danny Blind after he was sent off in the coach’s first game. Netherlands lost the game 1-0 in September 2015 and that probably pissed the manager off. Indi did not play for the rest of the qualifiers and was part of those blamed for Holland missing Euro 2016.

Commenting on the situation then, the player said: “It’s very difficult for a young player to bounce back in such a situation. Of course I was not happy with it but people can give their opinions. It was a very strange moment in my career, watching Holland as a supporter when I used to be always there playing.”

Indi said he did not grant interviews for that period and that Julen Lopetegui – the then manager of Porto was a big source of strength for him. The then Porto manager has now become the head coach in Spain.

“I learned a lot about personality from him [Lopetegui]. I still talk to him a lot now,” Indi said.

He said he chose to move to Stoke because the manager has managed players that he knew through his agent like Nigel de Jong that had gone on to have successful careers. Porto new boss Nuno Espirito did not give him options to remain in Portugal though. He returned to the national team after the incident late 2016 after a strong showing for Stoke.