MAJA HAS GOT PREM AMBITION AT POTTERS...
JOSH Maja has his sights set on helping Stoke City return to the Premier League after joining on loan from Bordeaux.
The 23-year-old forward will initially stay with the Potters until the end of the season, but his move could become permanent in the summer.
Lewisham-born Maja shone for Sunderland before moving to Bordeaux in 2019.
The Nigeria international, who scored on his Stoke debut against Wigan in the FA Cup yesterday, spent time on loan with Fulham last term.
Maja said: “It didn’t really take too much selling, it was more that the staff had a lot of admiration for me, and I knew that Stoke City was a big club with a lot of history in the Premier League.
“That is where I want to be, and hopefully I can take the club to where it should be.”
Potters boss Michael O’Neill added: “Josh will bring a different dimension to our attacking options and I’m really pleased that we’ve held off competition from a number of other clubs.”
O’Neill is pleased with the business Stoke were able to do in
January and believes the age profile of the squad is closer to where he wants it to be. “We’re pleased with what we’ve managed to do,” he said.
“The proof will be in the pudding, but we look a stronger squad, a younger squad coming out of the window than we did going into the window.
“If you look at most of the players who have left in the past two years, other than the ones who have gone overseas, most have gone to clubs in the division below or the same league. Apart from Nathan Collins, no-one has left for the top flight. “That slowed us down a little bit on where we would like to take the team.
“If you look at training this week, I see so many young players and it’s very motivating as a coach to walk out onto the pitch and see that.
“We feel that this window and the summer one will be the point when it will be the easiest opportunities to affect the most change in the squad.”