Peter Odemwingie: goal drought since 2014

With just four goals to show after 31 games playing for Stoke since 2014, Nigerian forward Peter Odemwingie has been offloaded to Bristol on loan by manager Mark Hughes. And the move appears to be a prelude to the club parting ways with the Nigerian international.

Odemwingie, played sometimes by injury, had lost first pick because of the arrival of the likes of Bojan Krkic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay.

The 34-year-old had played just eight times this season and there are indications that he is not going to have his contract renewed in the summer. He last saw the net in the 2013-14 season, after he was signed in January 2014, scoring just four goals. He played 8 games in 2014-15, no goal and this season, the record has been dismal as well, in eight games.

Hughes explained why Peter Odemwingie had to make the shift:

‘Peter is a case in point. He was as far away from the first XI as he had been for some time and opportunities here from now until the end of the season would be few and far between,’ said Hughes.

‘We let him go because we couldn’t give him the opportunities he felt his talent deserved and I was in agreement with that.

‘It is not easy to keep senior players happy and if you can’t even get them on the pitch and they are sat in the stand it becomes more of a problem.

‘But if you have the opportunity to get good players in you have to get them into your club.
‘At some point there will be good players in their own right who will have leave to make room for players coming in.’