Jese Rodriguez: Stoke City sign PSG forward on loan
Last updated on .From the section Football
Stoke City have signed ex-Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez on a season-long loan from Paris St-Germain.
The 24-year-old joined Real at the age of 14 and was part of their Champions League-winning squads in 2014 and 2016.
He joined PSG last August for £21m on a five-year deal, but scored just twice in 14 appearances before he was loaned to Spanish club Las Palmas in January for the rest of the season.
"His pedigree speaks for itself," said Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes.
"He hasn't had the happiest of periods in his career in Paris but he's still only a young man and is hungry to make a big impression in the Premier League.
"He will most certainly add to the firepower at our disposal."
Jese is Stoke's sixth signing of the transfer window.
Defender Bruno Martins Indi joined on Friday, while the Potters have also signed defender Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea, while midfielder Darren Fletcher, defender Josh Tymon and winger Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting all joined on free transfers.
Jese, who was linked with a loan move to Middlesbrough in January, played 63 times for Real, scoring 13 goals.
Stoke scoff at 'ambitious' Arnautovic
Stoke announced the signing of Jese in a video posted on social media that also criticised former player Marko Arnautovic, who left to join West Ham for £20m in July.
The 28-year-old Austrian forward has subsequently said that he wanted to join West Ham because they are "a bigger, more ambitious club" than Stoke.
In the video, Stoke referred to Arnautovic's comments before listing Jese's previous clubs and trophies, including one La Liga, one Copa del Rey and two Champions League titles.
"We were disappointed," Potters chairman Peter Coates told BBC Radio Stoke. "He's a huge talent and he's been a very good player for us.
"But, when the player makes it clear he wants to go, that his head's not right and all that sort of babble they talk, what do you do? We just tried to maximise the fee that we eventually got.
"My main disappointment is that we worked really hard to satisfy him last summer and got him on a long-term contract and everybody seemed pleased. But it also means you protect yourselves because of that."
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Let's not forget, Arnautovic was a "reject" from Inter when we signed him from Bremen, we just sold him for 8x what we paid for him.
He seems like a player who hasn't totally exhausted all chances of reaching his high potential, & since Stoke have made such solid, value adding signings already, I think they're entitled to a little gamble - hope he does flourish!