Gary Rowett secured signing to get Stoke City “out of the Championship” - it flopped badly | OneFootball

Benik Afobe was talked up by Rowett upon his 2018 arrival in the Potteries, but he did not fulfil what was asked of him for Stoke

Stoke City had one very clear aim in the summer of 2018 after being relegated to the Championship - get back to the Premier League at all costs.

Newly-appointed boss Gary Rowett embarked on a spending spree rarely seen in the second-tier ahead of the new season, as the likes of Tom Ince, Peter Etebo, Sam Clucas and James McClean all arrived for sizeable fees throughout the transfer window.

The Potters needed a guaranteed goalscorer to consolidate their position as favourite to win the league, and Rowett's main signing was striker Benik Afobe, who joined on a six-month loan but with an obligation to purchase him for a reported fee of £12.5 million in January 2019, just days after he had moved to Wolves permanently for £10m.

Despite his decent Championship record at Molineux, Afobe failed to ever impress in the Potteries, and even though he got off to a decent start under Rowett, his Stoke career was pretty much over not long after it had really begun.

He barely featured for the club after his first full season, and certainly failed to live up to the expectations that Rowett had set upon his arrival at Stoke.

Gary Rowett set some lofty expectations for Benik Afobe at Stoke

Afobe bagged 13 goals in 21 Championship games for Wolves in the 2014/15 campaign, and then nine in 25 the season after, as he earned a move to Premier League outfit AFC Bournemouth for £10 million in January 2016.

He never fully proved himself in the two years in the top-flight, so a January 2018 loan move back to Molineux seemed like a match made in heaven as he went on to bag six goals in 16 appearances as Wolves won the Championship title.

It was clear that Wolves did not plan to keep him on in the Premier League, though, and so a quick profit saw him join Stoke in June ahead of the 2018/19 season.

Rowett was adamant that Afobe was set to be a key man for the club's aim to get back to the top-flight, and spoke glowingly to Stoke's official media about what he felt the striker would bring to the club.

He said: “If there’s one signing you want to make to get you out of the Championship, Benik is that kind of player.

“He’s an excellent character and at 25 he has bags of potential but has already shown what he’s all about by scoring a lot of goals. He fits the profile of how I want to play in terms of pace, athleticism, flexibility and he certainly has an eye for a goal.

“The club have worked incredibly hard to make the signings of Benik and (Peter) Etebo happen and I think it shows how quickly we want to hit the ground running and the type of players we want to bring to the club.

“Getting those two in the building is a fantastic start.”

Afobe was a complete flop at Stoke

The abject failure that was Stoke's 2018 summer transfer window will be remembered for years to come by all connected with the club - Afobe was the most expensive capture of that summer, and he duly flopped in the Potteries over the next few years.

If truth be told, he probably never wanted to be at Stoke after he had only just permanently signed with Wolves 11 days earlier, where he had enjoyed his time on loan, and that showed throughout his time in ST4.

He bagged nine goals in 49 games in all competitions in his debut campaign, with some good moments, but off-field struggles took their toll, and he was never really taken to by Potters fans.

After a poor performance on the opening day of the 2019/20 season, manager Nathan Jones decided to bring in Scott Hogan on loan, and allowed Afobe to join Bristol City on loan for the season, where he suffered an ACL injury in training, and from there struggled to make an impact.

He looked set to be given a second-chance at the club by Michael O'Neill in the next campaign, yet went on loan to Trabzonspor for 2020/21, then joined Rowett-led Millwall on loan for 2021/22 and was finally able to rediscover his scoring form, so moved to the Lions on a permanent, cut-price deal four years after his big-money Stoke move.

Afobe unfortunately went down as one of the most notable failed transfers in Stoke's recent history, and while they have struggled to get out of the Championship with any striker since being relegated, he was certainly not the one that was going to help them return to the Premier League.