The Stoke City star who has the potential to save the Potters millions

The Stoke City star who has the potential to save the Potters millions

Stoke City may have their prayers answered without having to go to the transfer market, despite their struggles with

misfiring strikers.

With highly regarded Emre Tezgel already on the books, there may be hope even though the Potters’ front-line

offensive alternatives have struggled recently.

Emre Tezgel’s new contract is an indication of his intentions.

Tezgel chose to stay in Stoke despite allegations from TEAMtalk that Leeds United, a new team in the Premier

League, were interested in the prodigy.

According to rumours, a number of teams, particularly those from Turkey, where he has family ties through his

father, were interested in signing the 19-year-old Potters academy graduate.

Nevertheless, Tezgel signed a new two-year contract with Stoke, which he referred to as “my club” and the “right

place” for him to grow, despite the overwhelming interest from other teams.

Tezgel made his Potters first-team debut against Leyton Orient in the Emirates FA Cup at the age of 16, making him

the team’s youngest-ever player.

In addition to training with the first squad, the former MK Dons loanee has made frequent appearances for Stoke’s

under-18 and under-21 teams.

In the 2024–25 Sky Bet Championship, City just avoided relegation by two points, finishing in 18th position. Only

two teams lost more games than Stoke’s 12 during the league season: relegated Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff City,

and draw-specialist Preston North End.

Goal scoring was a problem for them; only Hull City’s 44 goals in the second division were poorer than theirs, while

Luton Town tied their pitiful total of 45 goals.

Injury luck and an opportunity is all Stoke City youngster needs

Tezgel might be the solution to Stoke’s goalscoring problems, sparing the team from possibly spending millions to

locate a worthy replacement for their faltering front line.

Sam Gallagher, a former attacker for Blackburn Rovers, only managed three goals, and Ali Al-Hamadi, who signed

from Premier League Ipswich Town for the second half of the season, only scored twice.

Nathan Lowe only scored once at Stoke after being brought up from his loan at League Two Walsall in January,

despite having scored eighteen goals for the promotion-chasing team.

Tom Cannon, who was on loan from Leicester City and left the team in January after scoring nine goals in the

Championship, was the team’s highest scorer. That demonstrated how badly City had performed in the last third,

particularly in the latter part of the season.

Everyone can see that in order for Stoke to have any hope of moving up the league the next season, they must find a

solution to their attacking problems. And their star striker might be the solution to it.

But in order to succeed, he needs two things.

The first is a clear bill of health in terms of injuries. If Tezgel can escape time on the injury list, which is something

that has caused issues in his young career to date, then he could push into being Stoke’s primary source of goals and

attacking output.

The 19-year-old just needs the chance to flourish, so the second component can follow from the first. Even though he

had 12 Championship appearances the previous season, he only started two of them and only played 291 minutes of

football, which is a pretty little amount of time.

Avoiding injuries and being given the opportunity to play regular football might provide Tezgel with the success he

needs to establish a strong Championship record, something Stoke is frantically vying for.

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