Stoke City faithful will disagree with Ipswich Town, Swansea City over January import | OneFootball

Bersant Celina failed to reach his previous heights while with the Potters

Bersant Celina was a hit at both Swansea City and Ipswich Town in his time in the EFL, but his spell at Stoke City was a failure for all parties involved, and the Potters will not want to repeat a similar deal this month as they hunt for additions to their wide forward areas.

Celina's time in England began at Manchester City, where he rose through the youth ranks to make four appearances for the Citizens' senior side in 2015/2016, before going on to impress on loan at Dutch side FC Twente in the 2016/17 season.

His first domestic loan spell saw him impress at Championship outfit Ipswich Town in the next campaign, before a permanent move away from Manchester to join fellow second-tier side Swansea City in 2018 for a fee in the region of £3m.

Two decent seasons in South Wales meant the Kosovan earned a switch to Ligue 1 side Dijon FCO, but just a year later he was back at Ipswich, then back in League One, and in January 2023 he made the loan move to Stoke, who needed to be added impetus in attack under Alex Neil to try and stage a challenge to finish in the top-half.

Celina's time in ST4 was marred by poor performances and lack of fitness, despite supporters and boss Neil expecting great things considering his impressive spells at Ipswich and Swansea, and he has certainly gone down as one of the club's least impressive loanees in recent times in the years since.

Bersant Celina struggled at Stoke despite strong showings for Swansea and Ipswich

Celina's first loan spell at Ipswich saw him score eight goals in 40 appearances, as he won the club's Goal of the Season award for an impressive long-range effort against Leeds United.

He then moved to Swansea and won yet another Goal of the Season award for finishing off an impressive team goal against former club Manchester City, then helped Steve Cooper's side finish sixth in the 2019/20 campaign before a return to the Tractor Boys in 2021 saw him become one of the standout players in the third-tier.

With that in mind, Stoke supporters had every right to be excited by his loan capture midway through the 2022/23 campaign, especially as the Kosovan was adamant upon joining that he was “very fit and ready to go" to help the Potters improve their inconsistent league form.

Celina made two successive starts upon arriving at the club, with nearly two full 90 minute games against Stevenage in the FA Cup and then Luton Town in the Championship, but was soon reduced to a bench role, and his lack of fitness saw him make just two appearances in the next nine games, while he was not even named in the matchday squad on the other seven occasions.

The then-26-year-old revealed to BBC Radio Stoke, via StokeonTrentLive, that he had missed out so often due to being unable to move for a week due to fever, but his time at the bet365 Stadium was pretty much over before it had even begun, as Neil's side found some good form in March, and he found game-time increasingly hard to come by.

Celina played just three times in the final eight games of the season for Stoke, with no goals or assists to his name, and then was dropped from the squad for the last two outings of the campaign against QPR and Watford, with his time at the club highly unlikely to be extended beyond his loan spell.

He soon returned to France at the end of the season after a real lack of any impact in the Potteries, which saw the excitement around his loan move become very short-lived, and the Kosovan unable to replicate the previous form that he had shown at Swansea and Ipswich.

Stoke cannot afford to replicate a similar deal to that of Celina's in the present day

Fast-forward to the present day, and Stoke have had a turbulent season so far, as they are now on their third manager or head-coach of this campaign under Mark Robins, who is sure to want to put his own stamp on his playing squad in the coming weeks and months to give his side the best chance of success going forward.

Attacking reinforcements are likely to be high on the list of Robins' priorities this month, given that the Potters have been very reliant on Tom Cannon's goals and star winger Million Manhoef is still sidelined through injury.

Stoke are pretty thin out wide as it stands due to Manhoef's injury, with both Lewis Koumas and Bae Jun-ho relied on to start nearly every game in recent months due to Andre Vidigal being out-of-favour under all three Potters bosses so far this term.

Injury-plagued Sam Gallagher has also featured on the wing since his summer arrival from Blackburn Rovers, as has versatile full-back Lynden Gooch, but the Potters need to add much more output from wide areas to complement the goals of Leicester loanee Cannon, while Manhoef is likely out for another two months.

Stoke are almost certainly likely to look to the transfer market to bolster their wing options for the rest of the season ahead, and while a loanee that has previous Championship experience would make a lot of sense to bring in, they have to avoid a similar deal to that of Celina this month.