Stoke City promise Peter Odemwingie a secure future

STOKE City have vowed to do their best by Peter
Odemwingie as he battles to save his Premier
League career over the next month.
Odemwingie will be 34 in July and hasn't played
since rupturing a cruciate knee ligament last
August.
But he returned to first-team training last week
without any ill-effects and could yet feature with
five games still to play this season.
And now chairman Peter Coates, who sanctioned
the signing of Rory Delap in 2007 after he had
broken his leg while on loan with Stoke, insists
the club will do everything reasonably possible to
accommodate Odemwingie.
He said: "We hope to have him back playing as
well as he was before his injury.
"I've had some encouraging reports about him
from the training ground and I am certainly
optimistic for him.
"He will be an asset for us if we get him back
playing for Stoke City, and that is certainly the
intention.
"These things take time, patience and a lot of
effort, but we will do all that we can as a club
for the best possible outcome for all concerned."
Odemwingie played a key role in kick-starting
Stoke's 2013/14 campaign after arriving from
Cardiff in January of last year as part of a swap
deal also involving Kenwyne Jones.
He later represented Nigeria at the last summer's
World Cup, but suffered a major setback when
sustaining his long-term injury at Manchester
City on August 30.
Odemwingie is likely to remain a bystander on
Saturday when Stoke play a Sunderland side
fighting for their Premier League future at the
Britannia Stadium.
Coates warned against any complacency ahead
of a fixture with hidden dangers for the home
side.
He said: "It will be a tough game, as every game
in the Premier League is, but you could argue a
game against a team down the bottom is even
tougher because they clearly have so much to
play for."
STOKE are following up their anticipated signing
of 19-year-old Barcelona winger Moha El Ouriachi
with a pursuit of 18-year-old Blackpool striker
Dom Telford.
Stoke have watched the youngster and see him
playing a part in improving the quality in the
under-21 development squad.
Telford's record since his senior debut earlier
this season is modest, just one goal in eight
league starts and one sub appearance, but that
has been in a Blackpool side struggling at the
foot of the Championship all season.

-The Sentinel