Etebo to leave Stoke for Spain's Getafe next week on loan deal that could become permanent

SUPER Eagles midfielder Peter Oghene Etebo is expected to leave English Championship side Stoke City next week on loan to Spanish Primera Liga side Getafe with the prospect of converting it into a permanent move at the end of the season.

 

Etebo, 24, joined Stoke from Portuguese side Feirense in the summer of 2018 for a fee of £6.3m and has played in 51 matches, scoring twice. However, this season, he has only played 11 times, not featuring for the Potters since the arrival of Michael O'Neill's in November, despite being the club's best player.

 

Apparently Getafe want Etebo because of the interest from English clubs in their Serbian international midfielder Nemanja Maksimovic. In what is expected to be a straight swap, Etebo will take over from Maksimovic who has scored one goal in 16 matches for the La Liga club this season.

 

Under previous Stoke manager Nathan Jones, Etebo was one of the first names on the team sheet but fell out of favour when O'Neill took charge in November. He recovered from injury but there was a hint that he had not done enough in training to warrant selection, so has not played for Stoke since limping out of a defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in October.

 

Etebo  is now understood to be waiting for a visa to complete his move to Spain. It is not likely that the move will be rushed through in time so he could face Real Madrid on Saturday but Getafe hope he will be involved in the cup game against Badalona the following weekend.

 

Not new to the Spanish league, Etebo previously spent time on loan at Las Palmas. Since coming to England, he has been a revelation, although a busy summer of international duty, including helping Nigeria reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals meant he missed the bulk of pre-season and did not make his first league start of this term until August 24 when Stoke lost 0-3 to Leeds United.

 

Last month, Mr O'Neill said last month: "Peter came back after, I think, four weeks out. When I came to the club, Peter was injured as he’d come back from international duty a injured, which was far from ideal.

 

"His training has been ok, it’s been no better than ok, so that’s important. There’s no guarantee that anyone comes back and we put them straight in the team."

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