Stoke City fell flat with £6m Spurs transfer | OneFootball

Stoke City signed Wilson Palacios from Spurs in August 2011 for £6 million, but they didn't get value for money

Stoke City signed Honduras international midfielder Wilson Palacios from Spurs in August 2011, though he struggled to ever find form at the bet365 Stadium.

It was deadline day in summer 2011, and Stoke had only made a few additions to the squad from the previous season, namely Birmingham City striker Cameron Jerome in a £4 million deal, with the experienced pair of Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson on free transfers from Spurs and West Ham, respectively.

As the clock was ticking down, Stoke announced the signing of former Wigan Athletic midfielder and Honduras international Palacios for £6 million from Spurs.

However, his signing was largely overshadowed by another signing from Spurs, Peter Crouch.

Crouch joined the Potters in a record deal for the Staffordshire club, worth up to £12 million and would go on to become the club's record goalscorer in the Premier League.

Palacios, on the other hand, had a much more difficult time adjusting to life in the Potteries.

The former Spurs midfielder never nailed down a place in Pulis's side

It would take over three months for Palacios to start his first Premier League game for his new club, playing the full ninety away to Man City in a 3-0 defeat.

Despite his lack of regular minutes in the Premier League, Palacios did, however, play in every single match of Stoke's Europa League campaign before the Potters eventually fell to a 2-0 aggregate loss to Valencia.

The Honduran would continue to appear sporadically for Stoke in the Premier League throughout the rest of the season, making 18 appearances in the league in total, though only half of those were starts.

Across the next three years of his Stoke career, Palacios would play just 20 Premier League matches for Stoke, the majority as a substitute.

He enjoyed more game time under new manager Mark Hughes during the 13/14 season, but was still never able to recapture the form that saw Spurs purchase the midfielder for £14 million from Wigan in January 2009.

Stoke tried to sell Palacios to Middle Eastern side Qatar SC with a deal between the two clubs having been agreed, but before the deal was finalised, the Honduran travelled to Doha, but failed his medical, meaning he would be heading back to Stoke-on-Trent.

In the final year of his Stoke contract, he appeared in the matchday squad just five times, but was an unnamed substitute on each occasion.

Personal problems and never being able to revive his career

In October 2007, Palacios discovered that his brother had been kidnapped from his family home in Honduras and paid the £125,000 ransom his captors were demanding for him to be released; however, he was never released.

In May 2009, police discovered his brother's body, and Palacios returned to Honduras on compassionate leave.

The loss of his brother is thought to be a major contributor to Palacios' career demise, having never truly recovered from the loss.

After his release from Stoke, the midfielder returned to North America to join newly formed NASL club, Miami FC, followed by spells back in his native Honduras.

The 97-time-capped Honduras international's move to Stoke proved to be a loss for both club and player, with Palacios unable to regain form, which made him one of the most promising midfielders in the Premier League, and Stoke never recouped anything from the £6 million fee they paid Spurs for him.