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The wait is finally over with Stoke City officially completing the siging of Crystal Palace striker Ade Akinbiyi on a three year contract this morning. The player has not signed in time to face Coventry City but should go straight into the squad for the midweek home game against Sunderland
Stoke City have finally completed the signing of long term transfer target Ade Akinbiyi - the former Crystal Palace and Wolves striker has signed a three year contract at the Britannia Stadium today.
It had looked like a three way race between ourselves, Gillingham and Walsall for the players signature in the last couple of weeks until Andy Hessenthaler dropped out of the race leaving just the Saddlers and ourselves in a sprint to the finish line.
The news will be a welcome boost for Stoke with our league form has been stuttering as of late. We all know what Ade Akinbiyi is capable of although first of all it will be a case of him getting some games under his belt and up to a decent standard of match fitness again.
With little money to spend at Stoke we can't really go wrong by picking up a proven Division One forward who has had a combined transfer fee of around £12 million throughout their career - this on a free transfer.
We've always said that whoever signed Ade this summer would be picking up a very worthwhile bargain if they could once again get him playing like Tony Pulis had him performing at the end of 2002/03. Last season he came across as a confidence player and clearly responded to the crowd at the Britannia Stadium - in short we made him feel wanted and in return he delivered the goods for us.
Still only 28 Ade should now be at the peak of his career and if the deal does work out we could get a very good mileage out of the player, especially on a three year deal. You only have to look around the First Division at the likes of Wigan Athletic talking about a fee of £2 million for Jason Roberts before paying out £1 million to sign Geoff Horsfield from Birmingham City. On paper Ade has a better goalscoring record in Division One than both of these players and has been picked up for a tiny fraction of the cost.
Listening to Akinbiyi comments about Tony Pulis on the 2002/03 Season Review video and likewise Pulis' thoughts on Akinbiyi as a player and it's clear we do have a duo who look capable of getting the very best out of each other. If all goes to plan and we get Ade up and running and performing where he left off at the Reading match then we may have one of the bargains of the season on our hands.
Akinbiyi should go straight into the squad for the Sunderland game in midweek having signed too late to feature against Coventry this afternoon.
Welcome back to Stoke, Ade.
The wait is finally over with Stoke City officially completing the siging of Crystal Palace striker Ade Akinbiyi on a three year contract this morning. The player has not signed in time to face Coventry City but should go straight into the squad for the midweek home game against Sunderland
Stoke City have finally completed the signing of long term transfer target Ade Akinbiyi - the former Crystal Palace and Wolves striker has signed a three year contract at the Britannia Stadium today.
It had looked like a three way race between ourselves, Gillingham and Walsall for the players signature in the last couple of weeks until Andy Hessenthaler dropped out of the race leaving just the Saddlers and ourselves in a sprint to the finish line.
The news will be a welcome boost for Stoke with our league form has been stuttering as of late. We all know what Ade Akinbiyi is capable of although first of all it will be a case of him getting some games under his belt and up to a decent standard of match fitness again.
With little money to spend at Stoke we can't really go wrong by picking up a proven Division One forward who has had a combined transfer fee of around £12 million throughout their career - this on a free transfer.
We've always said that whoever signed Ade this summer would be picking up a very worthwhile bargain if they could once again get him playing like Tony Pulis had him performing at the end of 2002/03. Last season he came across as a confidence player and clearly responded to the crowd at the Britannia Stadium - in short we made him feel wanted and in return he delivered the goods for us.
Still only 28 Ade should now be at the peak of his career and if the deal does work out we could get a very good mileage out of the player, especially on a three year deal. You only have to look around the First Division at the likes of Wigan Athletic talking about a fee of £2 million for Jason Roberts before paying out £1 million to sign Geoff Horsfield from Birmingham City. On paper Ade has a better goalscoring record in Division One than both of these players and has been picked up for a tiny fraction of the cost.
Listening to Akinbiyi comments about Tony Pulis on the 2002/03 Season Review video and likewise Pulis' thoughts on Akinbiyi as a player and it's clear we do have a duo who look capable of getting the very best out of each other. If all goes to plan and we get Ade up and running and performing where he left off at the Reading match then we may have one of the bargains of the season on our hands.
Akinbiyi should go straight into the squad for the Sunderland game in midweek having signed too late to feature against Coventry this afternoon.
Welcome back to Stoke, Ade.
