Galatasaray of Turkey midfielder, Oghenekaro Etebo has been ruled out of the possibility of making a return to his parent club, Stoke City of England, as The Potters look ready to hold out with their current squad roster into the summer, megasportsarena.com reports.
In contrast with initial feelers heading into the January transfer window, in which speculation rose that Etebo would snatch the opportunity of getting better playing time back in England, The Potters’ coach, Michael O’Neill says he is satisfied with what he has at present.
Consequently, a curtain has e draw on the prospects of Etebo retuning to Bet365 Stadium this month, in spite of the fact that he is struggling to establish himself with the club that once had Henry Onyekuru on their cards and want him back from AS Monaco of France.
Onyekuru may end up meeting Etebo at the Istanbul-based side, should the former Warri Wolves of Delta State, CD Feirense of Portugal as well as ex-Las Palmas and Getafe of Spain battler fail to get his desired return to Stoke, who currently have former Super Eagles’ captain, John Mikel Obi on their cards.
With latest reports out Stoke indicating that Etebo is not expected back this month from his moan spell, the 25-year-old midfielder will now have to see out his loan spell at Turk Telekom Stadium, where he arrived on a season-long agreement in the summer of 2020.
However, despite arriving with aplomb and great expectations, Etebo has failed to make a huge impact with The Yellow & Reds, with his aspirations at The Lions beclouded largely due to injury and he has made just five starts from a possible 20 in all competitions.
It is another career downturn for Etebo, who joined Stoke from Feirense in 2018, then appeared in 51 official matches and spent time on loan at Getafe in the second half of last season bin the Spanish LaLiga, only for the modest club surprisingly failing to take advantage of an option to sign him permanently, as they chose not to activate the clause.
Sadly, that marked another downturn for Etebo, who has now made only 11 appearances across all competitions for Galatasaray this season, including eight in the Turkish Super Lig, and his low ebb lent credence to speculation that he is set to cut short his loan and return to Stoke.
However, O’Neill has now revealed that Etebo is not heading back to Stoke this month, with the gaffer stressing that the Super Eagles’ lad falls into the same category with all of The Potters’ other players that are outside on loan at various other clubs, who he affirmed will not return to Bet365 Stadium until the end of their current deals.
O’Neil added: “It’s definitely a rumour. The players who are out on loan are out on loan for the season and that won’t change. It was what they wanted at that period in time. They made that decision and we made that decision as a club.
“Maybe because the loan hasn’t gone well, you can’t just decide you want to come back. It doesn’t work like that. We don’t envisage any of the loan players who are currently at various clubs returning to Stoke in January.”
