Stoke City should target Luton Town transfer for player with existing Potters connection
Stoke City are in need of multiple striker additions in the upcoming summer transfer window to improve on their poor scoring record from last season, and so should look to bring in previous fan-favourite forward Jacob Brown following Luton Town’s surprise relegation to League One.
The Potters were able to seal their survival with a draw at Derby County on the final day of the Championship campaign at the start of May, and planning will be well underway for next term as Mark Robins aims to make major improvements to his squad in the hope of progressing further up the table.
Stoke’s striker situation is clearly one that needs to be addressed as soon as possible in the summer window, following a season of uncertainty and inconsistency in forward areas that led the club to be the joint-second lowest scorers in the division by the time all was said and done.
Robins currently has just two under-contract senior strikers at his disposal heading into pre-season, in Sam Gallagher and Nathan Lowe, and so additions are desperately needed if they are to have a strong, settled squad in August.
A loan move for former Potter Brown, who has struggled for form with Luton and needs a new club to revive his stalling career, would surely make a lot of sense from both an off and on-pitch point of view.
Jacob Brown became a Stoke favourite after 2020 move from Barnsley
Brown arrived in the Potteries as a relatively unknown right-winger from boyhood club Barnsley in September 2020, as Stoke paid around £2 million for his services and handed him a three-year contract at 22-years-old.
He was effective in his debut campaign at the club under Michael O’Neill, and registered six goals and one assist in 46 appearances in all competitions, but it was in his second season that he really began to turn on the style in red and white.
Brown netted on the opening day of the 2021/22 campaign against Reading, and his strong early-season form under Alex Neil saw him earn a maiden call-up to the Scotland national team in November 2021.
He continued his fine form into the new year, despite Stoke’s drop-off from genuine play-off contenders to a mid-table finish, and he finished his second term at the bet365 Stadium with 14 goals and five assists in 52 appearances in all competitions.
That figure became the highest goals total in a single season for a Potters player since relegation in 2018, and has remained so in the three years since.
