"A fantastic talent" - Stoke City urged to sanction Emre Tezgel loan | OneFootball

FLW has been speaking with our Stoke City fan pundit to discuss why the winter window may be an ideal time to loan out their talented young striker.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Stoke City have struggled in the goalscoring department in recent seasons, but in academy graduate Emre Tezgel, the Potters might just have found their centre-forward of the future.

The 19-year-old England youth international has been threatening to break into the first-team picture at the bet365 Stadium for a number of years, but this season might be the time he really cements himself in Narcis Pelach's senior side.

So far this term, he's already comfortably surpassed his most first-team appearances in a season record of four from 2022/23, and has scored his first two senior goals for Stoke in the Carabao Cup.

But, with the January transfer window fast approaching, would the talented teenager be better served spending the second half of the season on loan away from the club? Or should he remain in the Potteries, and push for his place in the starting XI?

In an attempt to find out, we put those very questions to our Stoke City fan pundit, Sam Harrison.

Tezgel is "a fantastic talent"

Deciding what to do with a highly-rated young player is always a difficult decision to ponder. On the one hand, you don't want to risk stumping their progress by having them sit on the bench most weeks, and perhaps limit them to the occasional brief cameo.

On the flip side of that, allowing them the opportunity to go and cut their teeth away from the club and play regular senior football, can ensure that the player arrives back having become a much improved prospect because of that move.

Speaking on whether to loan out Tezgel in January, Harrison said: "One player at the club right now who could do with a loan move in January - there is a couple of players who maybe could do it. I would probably say Emre Tezgel.

"I think Nathan Lowe is a key example of going out on loan, getting that valuable experience and showing what you're made of, and Lowe has grabbed that opportunity and taken it. He's a player that has every right to be knocking on the door for a place in the Stoke team in the future. So, I do just think Tezgel, he went out on loan to MK Dons last season. He got his numbers in there.

"He's shown what he's made of, he's a fantastic talent, and I think during pre-season he showed what he's made of. It's just one of them of where, right now, I think a loan move for him just helps. It means he can keep developing, keep going. I do think they will look to loan him out, maybe at a similar level of club to Lowe's at (Walsall - League Two).

"But I think it is one of them where, he is a fantastic talent, and I think we have got quite a number of academy players in this Stoke team that could have a bright future, and hopefully the door into the Stoke first-team is one where they can push themselves into.

"With him going out on loan last season, I do think there's no harm in sending him out for another one. Especially during January, teams will look for a striker, and I think the loan market may be perfect in League One or Two."

Pelach has enough centre-forward cover

Sam Gallagher and Tom Cannon both made moves to the Bet365 Stadium over the summer transfer window, boosting the firepower available to Stoke boss Pelach.

Leicester City loanee Cannon, in particular, has enjoyed a fruitful start to his Potters career in front of goal, and looks to be a very shrewd addition by the club.

His presence among the forward ranks looks to have issued Tezgel a tough task of displacing him from the starting XI, and with Gallagher being a proven, experienced centre-forward at Championship level, the Potters do have options in the forward line.

Tezgel also has Nial Ennis for company too, and so, by having three senior strikers available to him this season, Pelach should feel safe in the sense that he can afford to allow Tezgel go out on loan in January.