Stoke City struck gold with Cardiff City swap deal | OneFootball

Peter Odemwingie became a cult-hero for the Potters as Kenwyne Jones went the other way to Cardiff

Swap deals are becoming increasingly uncommon in modern football, yet 11 years ago this month, Stoke City hit the jackpot with a player-exchange deal with Cardiff City that saw Peter Odemwingie join the Potters and Kenwyne Jones go the other way to the Welsh capital.

Jones had been a regular scorer for the Potters in his first season at the club in 2010/11, yet by 2013/14, boss Mark Hughes had signed numerous new forwards and the Trinidad and Tobago international found himself wanting a move away midway through the season.

Odemwingie, on the other hand, had only joined Cardiff in September 2013 for a reported fee of £2.25 million from West Brom, who he had been hugely impressive for in the top-flight, but his ill-fated Bluebirds move saw him fall out-of-favour with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær as the season progressed, and so the two clubs reached an agreement to swap the pair at the end of the January window.

The Nigerian striker became an instant fan-favourite in ST4, with his goals helping them achieve a historic Premier League finish in his first six months at the club, and while his time with the Potters petered out as he got older, he is still remembered to this day as part of one of Stoke's best January deals of recent times.

Jones, meanwhile, was relegated with Cardiff, and while he is still regarded as a good centre-forward in his time with the Potters, the swap that was made certainly worked out in Stoke's favour.

Peter Odemwingie became a Stoke cult-hero after Jones swap deal

Odemwingie insisted upon his arrival at Stoke that the move was a "step forward" in his career, as he sought to return to his previous Baggies form and also earn a recall to the Nigeria squad for the 2014 World Cup, and he certainly proved to be a success over the months that followed.

His maiden league outing at the Britannia Stadium saw him play 90 minutes as the Potters secured their first league win over Manchester United since 1984, and that was then followed by Odemwingie netting his first goal for the club in his third game, with a confident one-on-one finish to score Stoke's opener in a 2-2 draw at Southampton.

As the season's run-in was approaching, he had settled in nicely to his new surroundings and been handed starts by Hughes in six of his first seven games in the Potteries, but it was in mid-March when he really began to turn on the style, as he bagged a brace at home to West Ham to seal a 3-1 victory and move Stoke into the top-half.

The week after saw Stoke travel to Aston Villa in front of the Sky Sports cameras, and despite falling a goal behind early on, Odemwingie's first-half leveller kick-started a real revival, as Hughes' side went on to win the game 4-1 to earn the biggest Premier League away win in the club's history.

Odemwingie's brilliant month was then crowned with a late Boothen End winner against Hull City on March 29, as he pounced on a loose ball and ran through to slot home for Stoke's third consecutive win in their bid to achieve their highest Premier League points total by the end of the campaign.

The versatile forward continued to start regularly, and once again played a key role with a goal and an assist as the Potters swept Fulham aside with a 4-1 victory in their final home game of the campaign, before a win at West Brom on the final day saw Hughes side' come ninth as they achieved Stoke's best ever Premier League points total, with 50, and the club's highest finish in the top-flight since 1975.

His goal to reach the World Cup was also achieved that year, as he netted for Nigeria in a group game against Bosnia and Herzegovina and also became the first ever Stoke player to score at the tournament.

Odemwingie played a massive part in one of the best seasons in Stoke's recent history, and while his time in ST4 was never again as successful as his first six months at the club, his impact in 2013/14 was enough to win the hearts of supporters that still hold him in high regard to this day.

The following season saw him make just eight appearances in all competitions after being sidelined for seven months with a cruciate ligament tear, but the fact he signed a new one-year deal in 2015 at 34-years-old was testament to the impact that boss Hughes knew he could have when match-fit.

Despite that, he once again struggled for fitness in the 2015/16 campaign, and could feature only eight more times amid more injury issues, before a loan exit to Bristol City in March saw his time at Stoke all but come to an end.

Odemwingie has stayed connected to Stoke since leaving the club

A sure sign of a player's standing at a previous club is how much they interact with said club after their exit, and despite a disappointing final two seasons with the Potters, Odemwingie has certainly displayed his gratitude to Stoke in the years gone by.

He was a matchday guest at the bet365 Stadium back in March 2023, and has even posted on his own social media accounts with official Potters merchandise, to highlight his clear affiliation with the club that continues into the present day.

As recently as this week, Odemwingie appeared on BBC's A Cold Wet Tuesday Night: A Stoke City Podcast, where he detailed his experiences at Stoke and spoke about his good times in ST4.

He said: "I had such a great time at (Stoke). I regularly speak with Stoke fans on social media, and everybody just remembers those times to be so great.

"It's great when you hear young boys say 'thanks for making my childhood so nice, we remember your goals.'

"Even Nigerian fans followed my time at Stoke as well, and they were very inspired, because they knew I went through a tough time just before coming to Stoke, as I was out of the national team and my goals had dried up at Cardiff.

"For me, I always speak about my time at Stoke as like a resurrection time for me. My career went from bottom to the top within a short period of time.

"In the dressing room, I remember just feeling good from day one. The fans had no negativity at all, they never doubted if I was the right guy.

"(It was) a super squad at that time. What a team, with quality players, you know? We just clicked together and started beating big teams."

Odemwingie is the perfect example of a player that needed very little time to build a lasting bond with a club, as his infectious personality on and off the pitch was taken to almost immediately by Stoke fans.

He is probably best known in the wider footballing world for his time at West Brom, but his spell at the Potters was also something that both he, and their supporters, will not forget for a very long time.