TheCable

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has confirmed that the signing of Oussama Assaidi from Liverpool on a season-long loan came about because of a knee injury sustained by Peter Osaze Odemwingie.

Odemwingie collapsed unchallenged at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday in the Potters’ unexpected 1-0 win against champions Manchester City.

The Nigerian forward was stretchered off the pitch and initial reports said he might have damaged his cruciate knee ligaments.

The Potters had been hoping to make Assaidi’s loan deal from last season a permanent one, after they agreed a fee believed to be around £5 million for the Moroccan but inability to agree on personal terms scuppered the deal.

Stoke revived their interest late on Monday and Assaidi ended up signing for the club on a further loan spell.

“It’s unfortunate that we look like being without Peter for a while but following his setback we felt it was important that we moved to bolster the resources at our disposal,” Hughes said.

“It’s clear from talking to Oussama that he really enjoyed his time with us last season and he’s looking forward to picking up where he left off with us.”

Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes also spoke on the development.

“We thought we had concluded our incoming transfer business for this transfer window but we re-evaluated our plans after losing Peter to injury for the foreseeable future,” Scholes told the club’s website.

Assaidi scored four goals for Stoke last season with some impressive displays but they will have to wait a while for the Moroccan to make his second debut as he has been struggling with a cartilage injury at Liverpool.