Why Signing Kevin Wimmer Was A Major Mistake By Stoke City
Kevin Wimmer joined Stoke City for £18m this summer, after making only four starts for Tottenham in the Premier League last season. Wimmer signed a five-year deal with Stoke, while the club also completed transfers for three other defenders – Bruno Martins Indi from Porto, Josh Tymon on a free transfer and Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea.
While one may applaud their decision to boost their defence, the fact still remains that Stoke are without a proven goal-scorer. After spending quite a big amount on Wimmer, the club had very little financial scope left to pursue a quality striker.
Having said that, Stoke City have always been perennially slow starters in the Premier League, which might make it a bit unfair to judge their campaign so early. However, well into October, one can at least analyse how the Potters fared over the summer transfer window since their dealings look baffling, to say the least.
Darren Fletcher has boosted the midfield, while Maxim Choupo-Moting and Jese Rodriguez offer exciting attacking talent, even if they are not recognised goal-scorers – which is exactly what Stoke’s biggest problem is. The club, despite signing three notable centre-backs, did not bring in a proven striker, thus accentuating their troubles in the new season.
What makes their situation all the more worse is the fact that their defensive reinforcements have failed to yield strong results. Wimmer, despite being a £18m signing, has been nothing but shoddy. Their whole decision to spend so much money on him does not make sense when they already had Ryan Shawcross, Geoff Cameron, Kurt Zouma and Bruno Martins-Indi.
His performances do not justify his price tag whatsoever. One display away at Newcastle United saw him almost single-handedly bring about Stoke’s loss with a series of errors. Instead of spending so much money on a player with such lacklustre performances, Hughes could have benefited better had he invested the same in procuring a forward.
Stoke’s top scorers in each season since 2012 have been either Peter Crouch, Mame Biram Diouf, and the pair of Jon Walters and Marko Arnautovic. Walters and Arnautovic have departed, making it all the more dire for Hughes to target a prolific striker in the January window.
Once again, Hughes has to rely on the 36-year-old Crouch, as Saido Berahino continues to struggle. The manager’s questionable moves over the summer have certainly dented Stoke’s chances of making any sort of impact this season.