Is Stoke City’s Spanish star one of the Premier League’s best value signings?

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The last two seasons have seen Stoke City make some pretty tasty transfers that have seen the football community raising their eyebrows. We are seeing players of Champions League pedigree who still have a lot of years left in their careers and exciting young prospects choosing Stoke-on-Trent over other European destinations.

One such player is a graduate of the famed La Masia academy. This youngster broke into the Barcelona first team at 17 years old, beating the previous record set by a certain Lionel Messi. The young Spaniard praised for his quick feet, close dribbling skills, vision and eye for goal, was predicted for a great future with the Catalonian outfit. Frank Rijkaard, who gave him his debut called him a “treasure.” While Pep Guardiola said he is one of “only a few players who have a magical touch.”

A permanent move to Roma didn’t work out, and neither did a season on loan to AC Milan. Upon his return back to Barca (due to a buy-back clause) he was immediately shipped off to Ajax on a season loan, which was another move which failed to turn into anything significant.

On the 22^nd July 2014, Stoke City announced the capture of Bojan Krkic Pérez for an fee rumoured to be under £3 million. His addition was followed by the arrivals of Xherdian Shaqiri from Inter Milan, Ibrahim Affellay, Joselu and Marco Van Ginkel. Stellar names joining a squad which includes Champions League winner Marko Arnautovic and another product of the La Masia, Marc Muniesa.

I’m sure many people could not believe what was happening at the Britannia Stadium. Miles Jacobson, director of the popular computer management series, Football Manager tweeted “Bojan? Van Ginkel? El Ouriachi? Affellay? Joselu? Sounds like FM15, not Stoke City’s transfers.”

One question that is on the lips of many, is this: is Bojan one of the best value signings of recent times? With football, as with any other sport, statistics play a major role in providing the ammunition to a debate.

Here are the statistics concerning Bojan’s first season in English football according to squawka.com and whoscored.com: 16 apps, 4 goals, 42% shooting accuracy, 1 assist, 26 chances created, 85% passing accuracy, one appearance and goal in the FA cup and a further appearance in the Capital One Cup. It should be noted that his season was cut short by the knee injury sustained in the FA cup win over Rochdale.

This term, having recovered from injury and settled into the Premier League, Bojan’s stats are sure to please Stoke City fans. He has amassed 18 appearances, has a shooting accuracy of 55% which has yielded 5 goals. He’s got an assists from the 19 chances created, an average of 85% passing accuracy and 2 Capital One Cup appearances.

He hasn’t created the number of assists £42.5 million signing Mesut Ozil has at Arsenal or chipped in with goals like Everton’s £28 million signing, Romelu Lukaku. However, there are other signs in his game that shows he’s proving to be value for money.

The relationship Bojan has forged with Shaqiri and Arnautovic has been crucial to Stoke’s season. The Potters lay in 9^th place with 33 points. This season when Stoke have deployed a fit and firing front three of Bojan, Shaqiri and Arnautovic, the opposition team has felt the full force of the Champions League winning trio. Wins at home to Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd and an exciting 4-3 away win against Everton has received recognition and plaudits from football pundits.

The trio interchange positions amongst themselves, one minute Bojan is playing the false 9 role, and then he’ll be on either wing or in the number 10 position behind Arnautovic. Bojan is being given the freedom to roam in out of space and find himself in the pocket. His creativity and movement has seen him linked with a move to United, a team who have spent so much money on players but are struggling to add speed and creativity to their play – skills Bojan possess and uses to great effect.

The Stoke fans can be happy because they have acquired a player who will add a different dimension to the team’s performance. As Mark Hughes said upon Bojan’s arrival, “Anyone who knows European football will be aware of him as a player and the fact he sees his future at Stoke is really exciting and an endorsement of the club.”

For a fee of less than £3 million for a player who has already won 12 major honours in their professional career, well you know they’re going to be a bargain buy. Bojan is exactly that player. He’s only 25 years old, he has the best years of football yet to come. In terms of investment, I’d definitely say he’s a bargain, in fact I’d say he’s a coup.

Featured image: all rights reserved by Tsutomu Takasu.