Why Stoke City should complete a swoop for Sam Cosgrove
According to The Scottish Sun, Stoke City have been credited with an interest in Aberdeen star Sam Cosgrove, who has been in lethal form in front of the goal for the Dons in the Scottish Premiership this season.
The report adds that new Potters boss Michael O’Neill is a big admirer of the 22-year-old and has identified the Yorkshire-born ace as a potential target ahead of the mid-season trading period in January.
Cosgrove, who was once on the books of Everton as a kid, completed his footballing education at Wigan Athletic but he only made a solitary first-team appearance for the Latics.
He spent time on loan at Barrow, Chorley and North Ferriby United in the lower divisions before completing a move to Carlisle United.
Having struggled to establish himself at Carlisle, the 22-year-old moved north of the border and linked up with Aberdeen in January 2018.
After playing a bit-part role in the latter half of the 2017-18 season, Cosgrove really came to the fore in the following campaign and made an instant impact at the Pittodrie Stadium with an eye-watering tally of 21 goals in 44 appearances across all competitions.
Those impressive returns attracted interest from Italian Serie A outfit Lazio in the summer (h/t Scottish Sun) but Cosgrove stayed put at Aberdeen. He has once again demolished defences with his rich vein of form in front of goal this term.
The 22-year-old has already gobbled up 16 goals in 20 appearances for the Dons across all competitions, including 7 in 12 league outings. In addition, he has also impressed with 6 goals in 6 games during the club’s Europa League qualifying campaign earlier in the season.
To put things into perspective, Stoke City are need reinforcements to enhance their chances of beating the drop in the Championship and Sam Cosgrove could well be the man to answer the club’s prayers for a prolific hitman to bail them out of misery.
A 4-2 victory over Barnsley marked a positive start to life for the Potters under the stewardship of O’Neill but the Northern Irishman still has plenty to do if he is to steer the club to safety in the coming months. Bringing in some fresh faces to bolster the squad in January should certainly be high on the club’s agenda.
Lacklustre returns of just 17 goals in 16 games clearly epitomize the need to bring in a new striker, with the likes of Lee Gregory, Scott Hogan and Sam Vokes just not doing enough to deliver the goals week in, week out.
Verdict
While Gregory and Hogan have both chipped in with three goals so far in the Championship, Vokes is yet to find the net. It is not hard to see that the arrival of an in-form striker like Sam Cosgrove midway through the campaign would hand a massive boost to Stoke City’s chances of survival.
Notwithstanding the fact that goals north of the border are not exchangeable for ones in the EFL Championship, Cosgrove looks like a striker with a lot of pedigree.
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All in all, Stoke City going all out to secure the services of the Aberdeen star could go a long way towards helping them resurrect their tottering campaign.