Stoke City didn't strike gold with £4m Birmingham City transfer - Cardiff & Norwich City saw his class | OneFootball

Stoke City's signing of Cameron Jerome did not go as planned, with the forward finding more success with Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town

Cameron Jerome spent two seasons with Stoke City between 2011 and 2013, but his time in the Potteries paled in comparison to his spells with Cardiff City and Norwich City.

Having spent time in the youth systems of Huddersfield Town, Grimsby Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough, he would earn a contract at Welsh capital side Cardiff City, and would make his professional debut in October 2004 in a 0-0 draw with Leeds United as a 17-year-old.

In his first season of professional football, Jerome would make 29 Championship appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring six and assisting four in what was a real breakthrough season for the former England youth international.

Jerome would continue the hype heading into the following season, and would be the club's main man up top with Jason Koumas proving to be deadly from out wide, as the Englishman hit 18 goals in 44 appearances across the campaign as Cardiff finished in 11th.

Still only 19, the striker's stock was through the roof, and Cardiff capitalised on this by agreeing a deal worth a potential £4 million for Jerome in May 2006 with fellow Championship side Birmingham City, with the youngster signing a four-year deal with the Midlands outfit.

Upon his arrival, he said, "I'm delighted to be joining a big club like this.

"Hopefully I can just pick up from where I left off last season (with Cardiff) and continue to do the same here at Birmingham."

Jerome would actually make more appearances for Birmingham than any other side across his career, with 202 appearances for the Blues across all competitions, scoring 41 times and grabbing 22 assists for the club in both the Championship and the Premier League.

Upon Birmingham's relegation in 2011, Jerome was still a hot prospect, and Tony Pulis' Stoke City were keen to bring the forward to the Potteries.

Stoke City ultimately misfired with the signing of Cameron Jerome from Birmingham City

Stoke signed Jerome on deadline day in the summer 2011 window for a fee of around £4 million, signing a four-year deal and securing an immediate return to the Premier League in the process, having suffered relegation with Birmingham the season prior.

Upon his arrival at the Potters, then-manager Pulis said, "Cameron is a player of outstanding potential and I am sure his explosive pace will make him a big favourite with our supporters.

"I know that our defenders have always found him to be a real handful whenever he has played against us.

"We have been looking to increase our attacking options in this window and he will certainly provide strong competition for places in that department."

Jerome joined the likes of Peter Crouch, Kenwyne Jones, Ricardo Fuller, Jonathan Walters and Mamady Sidibe in the club's striker ranks, and unsurprisingly, the strength and depth that Stoke had in this position significantly affected his game time during his time with the club.

In his first season at the club, Jerome made just 23 appearances in the top flight, with only seven of those coming as starts, scoring four and grabbing one assist, as he was mainly used in the side's Europa League campaign and cup competitions.

The Englishman started six out of the club's seven Europa League ties, including their 1-0 away loss to Valencia in the round of 32, scoring twice and assisting once across the Potters' rare European escapades.

In the following campaign, his game did not get much better, as despite the club's lack of European matches, Jerome still made only eight starts in 26 Premier League appearances, scoring three goals and grabbing three assists.

However, Jerome's time at Stoke was not completely forgettable, with the Englishman netting an outrageously powerful strike as Stoke rescued a point in a 3-3 home draw with Southampton, extending the club's unbeaten home streak to 17.

He would later cite his reasoning behind striking the ball so hard down to anger with teammate Crouch, saying, "There had been one before that Pete could have laid off to me. I was kind of angry with him and that’s why I smashed it so hard.

"I knew it had a chance. I thought it was going to go straight in, but when it hit the bar I thought it was going to come out. Luckily the spin took it back in.

Jerome would join Premier League rivals Crystal Palace on loan for the season, but with just two goals and one assist in 28 games, he failed to impress, and upon his return to Staffordshire, Stoke would agree a deal with Norwich City worth £2 million.

Cameron Jerome's spells with Cardiff and Norwich City were the highlights of his career

Jerome's time with Norwich was infinitely more successful than his spell with Stoke.

Having signed for the club in the summer of 2014 with the Canaries in the Championship, he had to compete for a spot in the starting XI with Gary Hooper, Lewis Grabban and Kyle Lafferty in his first season with the club.

Despite the competition, Jerome scored 18 times and got seven assists in 41 Championship appearances, and would play a crucial role in the club's play-off campaign, scoring one and assisting one against bitter rivals Ipswich Town across two legs in the semis, before netting in the final in a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough to send Norwich to the top flight.

Jerome would once more struggle in the top flight upon his return to the division, scoring just three and getting two assists in 34 top flight games as the Canaries were relegated at the first attempt.

Though once again, Jerome proved to be lethal in the second tier during the 2016/17 campaign with Norwich, scoring 16 times with a further eight assists in 40 Championship games, before his time in Norfolk would fizzle out the following season, joining Derby County for the second half of the year after falling out of favour at Carrow Road.

Spells with Goztepe in Turkey, MK Dons, Luton Town and Bolton Wanderers followed, with the 39-year-old having retired in December 2024.

Jerome would make 138 appearances for Norwich across all competitions, scoring 42 and assisting 21 in what was a more successful phase of his career.

The former England youth international was never truly able to adapt to Premier League football, with his spells in the Championship proving to be much more prolific, hence why his time with the Potters never really worked out.

Cardiff caught a glimpse first, Norwich saw the best, and Stoke didn't get what they had hoped for, as Jerome left the Potteries with much more to be desired, whilst he will always be remembered fondly in the Welsh capital and Norfolk.