25-year-old must force Stoke City exit immediately | OneFootball

Niall Ennis needs to leave Stoke as soon as possible for the good of his own career

Stoke City may have been struggling in front of goal this season, yet one of their strikers has still not been trusted to try and help their scoring issues, and needs to depart the club this month for the good of his career and the Potters' own transfer business.

The Potters have had a turbulent season to date, and Mark Robins is now the third man this term tasked with leading the club toward more stability in the long-term, with immediate focus on taking his side away from the relegation zone.

Stoke moved to sign Tom Cannon on loan from Leicester City in the summer window, and while he has been their most prolific scorer by some way and could be recalled this window as a result, he has sometimes looked isolated in the final third, and his clinical finishing ability has often masked lesser all-round performances.

Sam Gallagher was another summer arrival among the forward ranks, but the ex-Blackburn Rovers man has struggled to even make the pitch for the Potters, with a number of injury issues limiting him to very few starts in the Championship up to now.

Aside from that pair, Emre Tezgel and Niall Ennis make up Stoke's current strike options, and while the former has been trusted to make his mark off the bench at just 19-years-old, the latter has barely kicked a ball all season.

Reports last month revealed that Ennis looks set to leave Stoke as soon as possible, and he needs to depart ASAP so that the Potters can focus on incomings up front, and he can try to get his career back on track at a League One side that might greatly benefit from his abilities in the third-tier.

Niall Ennis must force a Stoke City exit this month

The January window will represent a whole year at Stoke for Niall Ennis, yet he has struggled to prove himself in red and white so far, and looks set to make way in the new year as the Potters aim to bolster their frontline with new additions.

Ennis joined Stoke to aid their troubles in front of goal, after he had shone under former boss Steven Schumacher during their time together at Plymouth Argyle, and had struggled to find his feet at Blackburn following a summer 2023 move to Ewood Park.

Upon his arrival in ST4, he insisted that he had previously played his best football of his career under the ex-Pilgrims head-coach, but yet has also struggled for form since joining the Potters.

Ennis netted just once in 14 league games in his first six months, as he played a peripheral role in Stoke's Championship survival, and he has been pushed further down the pecking order this season due to the arrivals of the likes of Cannon and Gallagher, and Schumacher's surprise September departure.

Ennis was consigned to rarely making the matchday squad under former boss Narcis Pelach, with the Spaniard clearly unconvinced by his impact on the team when he came on as a substitute, and that only looks set to continue under new manager Robins, with his last appearance for the club now over two months ago.

The 55-year-old played Cannon and Gallagher alongside each other in his Stoke managerial bow against Plymouth last time out, while there was space for Ennis on the bench, but he failed to come on over midfielder Wouter Burger, despite the latter striker limping off through injury, and with the Potters searching for a goal with the score locked at 0-0.

Ennis has been linked away from Stoke prior to the January window

The 25-year-old was linked with a move to League One sides Barnsley and Wrexham late on in the summer window, but nothing materialised, yet either club could look to reignite their interest in the new year as they each seek a striker to look to help their respective promotion pushes.

His lack of action in the months since, despite Stoke's struggles in front of goal, surely makes a January exit inevitable, but where that will be remains to be seen.

Transfer journalist Darren Witcoop recently reported, via X, that Ennis is expected to leave Stoke in the new year, with Barnsley once again among the League One clubs keen on securing his services.

It is clear that he is well thought of elsewhere other than Stoke, and while no concrete approaches have seemingly been made as yet for Ennis' services since the January window opened, it feels almost inevitable that he will leave the club in the coming weeks, so both the Potters and the 25-year-old can move on and put a tough 12 months behind them respectively.