Stoke City and Huddersfield Town's £5.7m transfer agreement still defies belief | OneFootball

Stoke City sold Ramadan Sobhi to Huddersfield Town for £5.7million, it's fair to say the Potters had the better deal

Ramadan Sobhi may not be a household name for most English football fans, but Stoke City and Huddersfield Town supporters will remember the Egyptian winger's brief foray into English football.

He joined then Premier League side Stoke City from Egyptian giants Al-Ahly in 2016, and after two years with the Potters he completed a move to fellow top-flight side Huddersfield Town.

Despite the odd moment of quality at The Bet365 Stadium, Sobhi's time in English football was largely forgettable. However, Stoke will feel that they played a blinder when it came to getting the Egyptian international off their books, a deal which will haunt Huddersfield Town supporters.

Somehow, the Potters made a profit on Sobhi after his two years at the club, a deal which still defies belief.

Stoke had signed the then 19-year-old for a fee that could rise to as much as £5million in the summer of 2016, and given his age and performances in Egypt, he was seen as someone with a very bright future in the game.

In his first season, he played 19 first-team games for Stoke, making just eight Premier League starts, registering one assist in a win against Crystal Palace.

Given his age and lack of experience in England, it was seen as a reasonable enough first year, but he needed to show more to justify the price that the Potters had paid for him.

He did improve slightly in his second, and what proved to be his last season at the club, playing 27 times in all competitions and scoring three goals, including two in the league against West Brom and Huddersfield, which came within three days of each other.

However, he couldn't help the Potters avoid relegation to the Championship, and while playing in the second tier may have actually been a good way for Sobhi to develop, he sealed a move to the Premier League with Huddersfield.

The Terriers forked out £5.7million to sign him, meaning Stoke had made a profit despite his lack of impact there, and his time in Yorkshire was an absolute disaster.

Sobhi made just four substitute appearances, totalling 75 minutes of football, before leaving the club in January, returning to Egypt with Al-Ahly on loan.

Huddersfield were relegated at the end of the season, and he extended his deal with Ah Ahly for the 2019/20 season before being sold to Pyramids FC in 2020.

Despite paying £5.7million for Sobhi, he played just 75 minutes of football, one of the worst pieces of business in Huddersfield history, and Stoke would have been laughing all the way to the bank.

Since joining Pyramids FC in Egypt, Sobhi has had an impressive record, scoring 34 goals and registering 24 assists in 130 appearances, but he was unable to replicate that in England.

Perhaps, in hindsight, the move to England came too early, and had he gone down to the Championship with Stoke he may have found his feet in the English game and become a quality player in the second tier.

Huddersfield will certainly curse their decision to sign him in the summer of 2018, and it's no surprise that they finished bottom of the league with just 16 points and three wins after spending relatively big money on players like Sobhi.

At Stoke it looked as if there was a player in there who could blossom into a useful long-term option, but his decision to move back to the Premier League with Huddersfield proved an awful one.

While he may not be a household name to most English football fans, the mere mention of his name will make Huddersfield fans shudder, and it proved a deal so bad that it still defies belief.