Stoke City: Steven Schumacher facing tricky Andre Vidigal decision: View | OneFootball

After such a promising start to the 2023-24 season, few would have predicted that Andre Vidigal would barely be getting a game for Stoke City as the campaign reaches its conclusion.

The Portuguese attacker started the season on fire for the Potters, with a brace on the opening day helping his side to a 4-1 victory over Rotherham United, before going on to find the net five times in his first six games in all competitions.

But with his last start coming against Blackburn Rovers in mid-February, the 25-year-old no longer finds himself in Steven Schumacher’s immediate plans at the Bet365 Stadium, and will be perhaps lucky to even get into the match day squad as his side battle relegation.

Andre Vidigal's first Stoke City season has been a mixed bag

Vidigal signed for Stoke last summer from Portuguese side Maritimo, and on first viewings he looked to be worth every penny of the reported £450,000 they spent to bring him to Staffordshire.

That debut brace against the Millers would have done plenty of good in winning over the home crowd, before finding the winner in a 2-1 League Cup victory over West Bromwich Albion days later.

A match-winning effort against Watford earned his side their second win of the season, before a late consolation in a 3-1 defeat to Hull City marked the last time he found the back of the net before Christmas.

The wide man’s downturn in form coincided with a worrying run of results for the Potters, as a run of just five victories from 19 league fixtures saw them slide further and further down the Championship table, with Vidigal scoring just once in that time and his side were embroiled in a relegation battle.

Stoke find themselves 19th in the Championship table at time of writing, just three points above the Huddersfield Town in the final relegation spot, and among a cluster of seven clubs separated by just three points at the bottom of the table.

But Schumacher seems to have stumbled upon a more reliable formula in recent weeks, and it doesn’t include Vidigal - with the Portuguese player having a watching brief as City recorded victories over Queens Park Rangers, Middlesbrough and Preston North End.

January recruits Luke Cundle and Niall Ennis have been preferred in the attacking positions of late, as well as Tyrese Campbell and Bae Jun-Ho, the latter who is improving week on week as he gets more used to English football, and he netted the opener against Boro earlier this month in a 2-0 away win on Teesside.

Steven Schumacher has clear Andre Vidigal doubts

The upturn in results will leave Schumacher pondering over whether throwing his Portuguese playmaker back into the fold is the correct decision, with results on the pitch showing that they can do just fine without him.

But as the fixtures come thick and fast, squad depth will be key to picking up valuable points if they are to avoid dropping down into the third tier, so Vidigal has to be ready for action when called upon.

Potters fans will know just how much quality he can possess on his day, but with the early season form dwindling his current boss will not have seen the best of him on the football pitch, having only netted once since Schumacher’s arrival in December.

You only have to look at the underlying numbers to see how far the 25-year-old’s form has dropped off a cliff, and not just in the scoring department.

After creating 14 goalscoring opportunities in his first seven matches in red and white, he has only gone on to create 19 in his next 18 league appearances; further highlighting the bluntness of Stoke’s attacking force this campaign.

A pass percentage as low as 60.9% in a 2-1 victory to Birmingham City in January was the nadir for Vidigal, with a player who can’t keep hold of possession unlikely to feature for a side that is fighting for every point to maintain their status as a second-tier side.

He has seemingly lost the trust of his manager, who has turned to tried and tested players who he knows will give him everything each week, and who can blame him?

That early season form counts for nothing when you’re reputation is on the line, and if Vidigal can’t raise his game for a relegation dogfight then he won’t be getting on the pitch anytime soon.