Michael O’Neill’s to be accurse as Nottingham sale made a loss

Recent Stoke City strikers have not been particularly successful, and Michael O’Neill’s 2021 acquisition of a forward nearly immediately turned into a disaster for the Potters.

Sam Surridge was acquired by Stoke that summer from AFC Bournemouth for a four-year contract estimated to be for £5.5 million, including add-ons. This was a bold move given Surridge’s comparatively unremarkable scoring record in the Championship while playing for the Cherries and on loan at Swansea City.

Prior to the new season, O’Neill had named the 23-year-old attacker his top target. It appeared like his gamble paid off early on in the season as Surridge had a respectable start in red and white; however, his play quickly declined, and he fell down the hierarchy.

Six months after moving to Stoke, Surridge was then granted permanent leave in the January 2022 transfer window by the Potters, who wanted to minimize their losses as soon as possible. This allowed Surridge to join Nottingham Forest for a significantly lower sum than what they had previously paid.

Stoke took a major risk that never paid off, and O’Neill was criticized for seemingly insisting on getting him to the team.

After Lee Gregory and Sam Vokes left the team, Stoke needed a frontman to step up and lead them forward under O’Neill. Surridge signed with the Potters in August 2021 in the hopes of becoming their talisman ahead of players like Steven Fletcher and Tyrese Campbell, as well as ending their curse of bad striker acquisitions.

With a late winner on his debut in the season opener against Reading, two goals in the first two EFL Cup matches against Fleetwood Town and Doncaster Rovers, respectively, and another goal against Barnsley in September, he got off to a strong start at the bet365 Stadium, where Stoke was comfortably ranked in the top six early on.

Everything appeared to be going well for him and his teammates, but when O’Neill started to favor Fletcher and Jacob Brown in his starting lineup, he quickly lost confidence in front of goal and kept missing the net.

A moment of lunacy in the last moments of Stoke’s 2-0 victory over Peterborough United in November, when Surridge received a straight red card minutes after replacing Posh defender Josh Knight, encapsulated his feelings.

After serving a three-game suspension for violent behavior, he made just three more brief appearances for the team. In January, he was scheduled to go on loan to Cardiff City, but late in the transfer window, Forest made an offer to Stoke for an alleged £2.2 million, which was duly accepted as his difficult six months came to an end.

Michael O’Neill disclosed everything once Surridge had departed.
After the saga ended, Stoke-on-Trent Live revealed that O’Neill had made Surridge his top target for the summer but was willing to call it quits on the project as quickly as it had started after he had struggled to settle in the Potteries. Stoke wanted to cut their losses on Surridge rather than loan him out and have him still be on their books come summer.

The Northern Irish manager publicly discussed the reasons the move didn’t work out after he left, and he even hinted at the reasons they were so eager to let him leave.

“We had a long-term goal when we got Sam in the summer, but things didn’t work out as planned.

The player took some time to get comfortable.

“He had a good start, scoring on his debut, and the early games looked very promising. However, his form deteriorated a little bit after that, and overall, I believe he had trouble adjusting to life at the club.

“Occasionally, that occurs.

“We believed that signing a permanent contract was the wisest course of action for both the player and the club when the chance arose. Being able to accomplish that at that particular moment was a big deal.”

Surridge’s unsuccessful switch to ST4 clearly benefited Forest, as he went on to score seven goals in 17 games to help them earn promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs at the end of the season.

There is undoubtedly little love lost between him and the Potters because of his difficult time getting playing time in the top division and the significant money he forfeited. Instead, he joined Nashville SC in July of last year, and although his career is still flourishing in the MLS to this day.