25-year-old must force Stoke City exit immediately

25-year-old must force Stoke City exit immediately

Despite the fact that Stoke City has struggled this season in front of goal, one of their strikers has yet to be trusted to try to help with their scoring problems and must leave the team this month for the sake of both his career and the Potters’ own transfer business.

With an urgent focus on pulling his team out of the relegation zone, Mark Robins is the third manager this season tasked with steering the Potters towards greater stability in the long run.

Although Tom Cannon has been Stoke’s most prolific scorer and may be remembered from this window because of it, he has occasionally looked isolated in the final third, and his clinical finishing ability has frequently concealed poorer all-around performances. Stoke signed Cannon on loan from Leicester City during the summer transfer window.

Another summer addition to the forward ranks was Sam Gallagher, but the former Blackburn Rovers player has had difficulty even making the field for the Potters, making only a few appearances in the Championship thus far due to a variety of physical problems.

Apart from those duos, Stoke’s current strike alternatives are Emre Tezgel and Niall Ennis. The former has been relied upon to leave his imprint.

Niall Ennis must force a Stoke City exit this month

Niall Ennis will have a full year at Stoke during the January transfer window, but he hasn’t shown much in red and white thus far, and it appears that he will be replaced in the new year as the Potters try to strengthen their front line.

After struggling to establish himself at Blackburn after moving to Ewood Park in the summer of 2023, Ennis joined Stoke to help with their goals. He had excelled under former manager Steven Schumacher while they were together at Plymouth Argyle.

He claimed to have played his greatest football of his career under the former Pilgrims head coach when he first arrived at ST4, but he has also battled with form since joining the Potters.

Ennis

With his last appearance for the team now more than two months ago, Ennis was relegated to rarely making the matchday squad under former manager Narcis Pelach. The Spaniard was obviously unconvinced of his impact on the team when he came on as a substitute, and it only appears to be going to get worse under new manager Robins.

In his Stoke managerial debut against Plymouth last time out, the 55-year-old started Cannon and Gallagher next to each other. Ennis was available on the bench, but he was unable to replace midfielder Wouter Burger, even though the latter striker hobbled off due to injury, and the Potters were still looking for a goal with the score tied at 0-0.

Ennis has been linked away from Stoke prior to the January window

Late in the summer transfer window, the 25-year-old was connected to moves to League One teams Barnsley and Wrexham. However, nothing came of the rumours, but both teams may try to rekindle their interest in the new year as they both want to add a striker to aid their respective promotion campaigns.

Despite Stoke’s difficulties in front of goal, his lack of activity in the following months makes a January departure all but certain, but it’s unclear where that will happen.

Ennis, who is expected to leave Stoke in the new year, is once again a target for Barnsley, according to a recent report by transfer journalist Darren Witcoop via X.

It is evident that he is highly regarded outside of Stoke, and even though no firm offers have appeared to have been made for Ennis’ services since the January transfer window opened, it seems highly likely that he will depart the team in the upcoming weeks, allowing the Potters and the 25-year-old to move on and, respectively, put a difficult 12 months behind them.

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