Stoke City spent the summer targeting a striker after Tyrese Campbell and Wesley Moraes left the club following the expiration of their contracts.
The Potters have utilised Emre Tezgel, Niall Ennis and Ryan Mmaee up front so far this season, but with the latter now on loan at Rapid Vienna for the rest of the campaign, a new signing of their own will be a huge boost for the team this weekend.
Tom Cannon made the move to Stoke on deadline day, joining the Staffordshire outfit on loan from Premier League side Leicester City. But, he was forced to miss the 1-0 win away to Plymouth Argyle due to missing the 12pm registration deadline on the Friday before the match.
Nevertheless, supporters will be hoping to see the 21-year-old in action against Oxford United on Saturday when Steven Schumacher’s side make their first ever trip to the Kassam Stadium.
If he can get to the same level he found himself playing at during the 2022/23 campaign, then Stoke may just have a new hero.
Cannon’s short loan to Preston North End turned him into a hot commodity
Cannon only joined Leicester at the start of last season, having originally played his football for Everton, having come through their academy.
However, his time on the pitch with the Toffees was extremely limited, making just three appearances for the senior team, and he was sent on loan to Preston North End in January 2023.
After a slow start to life at Deepdale, the striker scored his first goal for the club in the Championship against Wigan Athletic in his seventh appearance.
From there, he did not slow down. Following two consecutive 0-0 draws, Cannon found the back of the net seven times in the next eight games, including a brace against QPR in a 2-0 win.
The then 20-year-old’s goals fired Preston into play-off contention after a season of mid-table mediocrity, but, five matches without a win at the end of the campaign meant that the Lilywhites finished 12th – six points off the top six.
In spite of that, the impact that Cannon had on the team was second-to-none, and he gave supporters the chance to dream of a shock promotion. He started all but one of his 20 games under Ryan Lowe, something that has given him a host of experience at such a young age.
| Tom Cannon’s Preston North End Championship Stats (As Per TransferMarkt) | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 20 |
| Goals | 8 |
| Assists | 1 |
That stint at Deepdale for a few months turned Cannon from a pretty untested youngster to a player that much of the Championship was interested in come the summer of 2023, and North End tried their best to land the Republic of Ireland youth international on a permanent basis.
However, they were beaten to the punch by Leicester, whose parachute payments won out when it was all said and done – the move to the King Power Stadium hasn’t been one to remember so far for Cannon though.
Stoke will be hoping to see the Preston version of Cannon rather than the Leicester one
After joining Leicester from Everton, there were some expectations that Cannon would kick on in the Championship and be the perfect replacement for an ageing Jamie Vardy.
But, the timeless Vardy continued to score goals and Cannon was forced to watch on from the sidelines for the majority of the season, playing just 13 games for the Foxes, starting only twice – although he did arrive in the East Midlands with a back injury and only made his first appearance some three months after signing.
The new Stoke number nine found the back of the net just two times in the Championship, with both goals coming in a 4-1 win over Huddersfield Town, whilst also finding the back of the net in the FA Cup against Millwall, but his total league starts amounted to just three, thanks to the presence of Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka.
After such a disappointing campaign, Cannon has something to prove at the bet365 Stadium, and with him now being the main man up front, there is no reason that he cannot kick on and start firing immediately.
There is plenty of expectation on Cannon’s shoulders though, mostly from his time at Preston North End, and if he doesn’t live up to it, then it will be another striker that comes to Stoke and fails to fire.
