Stoke City: Michael O'Neill to blame as Nottingham Forest sale made a loss - View | OneFootball

Sam Surridge was a flop at the bet365 Stadium under O'Neill

Not many strikers have succeeded at Stoke City in recent years, and one 2021 signing by Michael O'Neill almost instantly became a flop frontman for the Potters.

Stoke brought in Sam Surridge that summer from AFC Bournemouth on a four-year deal for a fee believed to be worth around £5.5million, including add-ons, in a huge leap of faith considering his relatively ordinary Championship scoring record at the Cherries and on loan at Swansea City.

O'Neill had made the 23-year-old attacker his main target ahead of the new campaign, and his risk looked to have paid off early on in the season as Surridge got off to a decent start in red and white, but his form soon dipped, and he slipped down the pecking order up front.

Surridge was then allowed to leave permanently in the January 2022 transfer window to join Nottingham Forest, just six months after he had moved to Stoke, for a cut-price fee compared to what the Potters had previously paid, as they cut their losses at the earliest possible juncture.

It was a huge gamble by Stoke that did not pay off at all, and O'Neill's perceived insistence on bringing him to the club went on to represent little more than a significant loss of money in a very short space of time.

Sam Surridge flopped at Stoke City

Stoke needed a frontman to step up and take them forward under O'Neill, as well as added depth after Lee Gregory and Sam Vokes had both departed the club, and so Surridge joined in August 2021 in the hope that he could become the Potters' talisman ahead of the likes of Steven Fletcher and Tyrese Campbell, as well as break their curse of poor striker signings.

He started the campaign well at the bet365 Stadium, with a late winner on his debut in the season opener against Reading, two goals in the first two EFL Cup outings against Fleetwood Town and Doncaster Rovers respectively, then another strike against Barnsley in September as Stoke sat comfortably in the top six in the opening stages.

All seemed to be going well for him and his teammates, but he soon lost confidence in front of goal and continued to fail to find the net as O'Neill began to prefer Fletcher and Jacob Brown in his starting XI.

Surridge's frustrations were summed up by a moment of madness in the dying embers of Stoke's 2-0 win over Peterborough United in November, as he was given a straight red card just minutes after coming on for a headbutt on Posh defender Josh Knight.

He made just three more fleeting appearances for the club after returning from his three-game ban for violent conduct, and was set to join Cardiff City on loan in January before Forest offered Stoke a reported fee of £2.2m late on in the window, which was duly accepted as his six tough months came to an end.

Michael O'Neill revealed all after Surridge had left

Stoke wanted to cut their losses on Surridge, rather than loan him out and him still be on their books come the summer, and only after the saga was over did Stoke-on-Trent Live reveal that O'Neill had made him his number one target in the summer, but was prepared to end the project as swiftly as it had begun after he had struggled to settle in the Potteries.

Following his departure, the Northern Irish boss spoke frankly about why the move didn't work out, going on to hint at why they were so willing to offload him permanently.

"We bought Sam in the summer with a long-term objective, and unfortunately it didn’t go as well as we’d hoped," he told Stoke-on-Trent Live.

"The player struggled a bit to settle.

"He got off to a decent start, scored on his debut and the early games were very promising but his form suffered a little bit after that and I think generally he struggled to settle at the club.

"Sometimes that happens.

“When the opportunity came to do a permanent deal we thought it was the best thing to do for the club and the player. It was a good deal to be able to do at that point in time."

Forest were the undoubted beneficiaries of Surridge's failed move to ST4, as he went on to help them win promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs at the end of the season, with seven goals in 17 league appearances.

He struggled for game-time in the top-flight and so joined Nashville SC in July last year, and while his career is still thriving in the MLS to date, there is certainly little love lost between him and the Potters due to his poor spell at the club and valuable money lost.