Nathan Lowe decision must be justified by Stoke City following Leicester City recall situation | OneFootball

Lowe needs to stay in Mark Robins' squad rather than be loaned back out to League One

With clubs in the third tier likely queuing up to take Stoke City striker Nathan Lowe on loan, the Potters must not send the 19-year-old back out for the second half of the season and need to justify their choice to recall by giving him an opportunity to prove himself in the Championship, following Tom Cannon's own recall back to Leicester City.

The Potters surprised many fans across the EFL on Sunday evening when it was announced that they had decided to recall Lowe from his brilliant spell at League Two leaders Walsall with immediate effect.

While he has been a real hit in the fourth tier, and probably the best player in that league up to this point, the jump up to the Championship is a big one, and rumours have emerged that the Potters could look to send him to a League One side for the second half of the campaign to continue his development out on loan.

Stoke, however, are now seriously short on striker options, after Leicester City loanee Tom Cannon was recalled back to the East Midlands, and with Sam Gallagher struggling to stay match-fit, as well as the likes of Niall Ennis and Emre Tezgel both not performing well enough to earn regular league minutes.

With that in mind, they must keep Lowe at the club this month, and validate their big recall decision by making him a regular in Mark Robins' squad for the duration of this term.

Nathan Lowe must be given a chance by Mark Robins after loan decision

Lowe's previous Championship experience was a real learning curve after he was handed his first consistent chances in senior football under Alex Neil and Steven Schumacher last season, amid the Potters' struggles in front of goal.

He has already tasted the feeling of scoring in the second tier, as he bagged an 89th-minute winner at Bristol City in September 2023 to score a dream first goal in senior football, but that was about as good as his campaign got, as he made just three more starts for the rest of the season.

The teenager made his first loan move away from the Potteries to Walsall late on in the summer window, after Stoke had waited to sign Sam Gallagher from Blackburn Rovers, and made an instant impact with a brace on his first start for the club against Huddersfield Town in the EFL Cup.

Lowe followed that up with his first league goal for the Saddlers just days later, with the opener against Cheltenham Town, and has barely looked back in the last few months, as Mat Sadler's side have made a real challenge at the top of the fourth-tier.

His Bescot Stadium exploits included winning the EFL Young Player of the Month award in October, picking up the EFL League Two Player of the Month award for December, and registering a total of 18 goals and seven assists in 30 appearances across all competitions for the club.

The teenage prospect's latest showing in a 5-1 win against Tranmere Rovers, where he bagged a goal and an assist to send the Saddlers 12 points clear at the top of the fourth tier, was clearly enough for Mark Robins to see fit to bring him back to the Potteries, as Stoke confirmed their decision last weekend.

It is impossible to know whether Lowe is ready for another crack at the Championship, but it seems like an absolute no-brainer to at least give him a go this season, rather than loan him out to a League One team after Football League World exclusively revealed that Huddersfield had shown an interest in signing him at the start of the January window.

Both Barnsley and Wrexham are also in the market for strikers this month to help their own League One promotion pushes, and would likely love to sign Lowe to fix their attacking problems, yet Stoke must avoid any more loan deals for the 19-year-old, after the news of Cannon's departure was confirmed by the club on Wednesday morning.

Summer loan signing Cannon was very effective in front of goal for Stoke in the first-half of the season, and the club will rue the fact they have lost his services so suddenly, as they look to improve under Mark Robins and not get dragged into a relegation battle in the coming months.

The Potters beat off some very strong competition to secure the Leicester City frontman on loan in the last week of the summer window, and he endured a slow start to life in the Potteries, but proved himself as one of the best second-tier marksmen over the last few months, hence the interest from fellow Championship clubs to force the Foxes' hand into a recall.

Other than the returning Lowe, boss Robins only has Gallagher, Ennis and Tezgel as his other striker options to pick from to turn the Potters' fortunes around right now, with a startling lack of any concrete links to other forwards that could be available on loan or even for a cut-price fee as the club looks to balance the books regarding financial fair play.

Gallagher, who joined from Blackburn Rovers in the summer window, has only managed to feature nine times in the Championship this term, with only three starts so far, while Ennis has been out-of-favour and recently linked with his own exit to the third-tier, and 19-year-old Tezgel's progress has slowed down this season with just five substitute appearances from the club's last 18 games.

It is clear that Stoke will need to be in the market for a new striker now Cannon has gone, but even if that is the case, other potential exits and a real lack of firepower in attack mean that it is imperative that Lowe is kept around for the next few months at least before a possible loan move away in the summer to continue his progress at the right speed.