Stoke Right Back To Square One As Kelly Heads To Fulham?
Many Stoke fans will have been surprised this afternoon by the news that Birmingham right-back Stephen Kelly has joined Fulham on a three year contract for an undisclosed fee. The 25 year old had spent the second half of last season on loan with the Potters and was widely tipped to be Tony Pulis’s first signing of this summer, with the Stoke manager reportedly lining up a £1 million bid for the Irish international. If he was a target for Pulis, as it seems he was, we will now look elsewhere in our bid to strengthen the position, with Andy Wilkinson set to be the only senior right-back in our squad, as club captain Andy Griffin will soon leave the Britannia Stadium.
Kelly – now a Fulham player
For me, this is mixed news. I’ve always been indifferent to Kelly. He never did much to impress during his six appearances for Stoke, but I believe that he does have the ability to be a useful Premier League player, as we saw from his excellent 2007/08 season at Birmingham, when he was the only outfield player in the league to play every minute of all 38 matches. I’m also a big fan of Wilkinson, and would love to see him cement himself further as our first-choice right-back next season, and with the signing of Kelly now out of the question, it is more likely that he will deservedly retain his place.
If we are to bring in a right-back, there are also others out there, who are realistic targets that I would far rather tried to bring in. In Pulis’s position I would make put Newcastle’s Habib Beye at the top of my list. After their hilarious relegation, the Magpies will be willing to listen to offers for almost all their players, and signing a player like Beye is definitely no longer beyond our budget or means. He’s also Senegalese, and our links with the country could help to persuade him to the area. Let’s face it, if Abdoulaye Faye told you to move to Stoke, you’d do it.
Our search for a right-back may now be back on
This promises to be an eventful summer on the transfer front for the Potters, but I think that in the excitemnt that rumours of potential new signings brings it is important that we do not forget Wilkinson. For me, and I know for many others, he was one of the stand-out players of our first Premier League campaign, and has shown that he is very bit the capable top flight player. Some people may be disappointed by lack of signings by the end of August, but if we do not add another right-back by then, meaning Wilkinson will spend another season as first-choice, that can only be a good thing.
Not a total disaster for you. Could do much better than him.
My thoughts entirely.
Beye would be my choice as well. He would fit the Pulis mantra of being arguably “better than what we have”. You couldn’t really say that about Kelly – he was better going forward than Wilko (although Wilko was improving this aspect of his game) but, in my opinion, Kelly is possibly weaker defensively.
Kelly was in fact a “Bosman” signing. Taken on for purposes of UAFA League, & John Pantsil being unavailable due to African Nations Competition. Will be used to booster up squad numbers.
Well this is taken from the Birmigham Mail when he was looking like signing for us:
this is from the Birmigham Mail: “Stoke’s reluctance to commit themselves either way could possibly have something to do with the financial implications of the arrangement.
They are believed to have paid Birmingham an initial £500,000 loan fee and will have to pay out another £250,000, due to their survival in the top flight, even if they decide to send Kelly back to St Andrew’s during the summer.
Stoke also have the option of paying the Blues £1million to sign the Dubliner permanently so it appears that Kelly’s wait to see which Premier League club, if any, he will be playing for next season will continue.”
I apologise if I’m wrong but going from that, it seems like he wasn’t out of contract.