Stoke City faithful will disagree with Ipswich Town, Swansea City over January import
In his EFL career, Bersant Celina was a sensation at Swansea City and Ipswich Town, but his time at Stoke City was a bust for everyone involved. As the Potters look to bolster their wide forward areas this month, they won’t want to make the same mistake twice. Celina started his English career at Manchester City, where he progressed through the youth ranks to make four appearances for the Citizens’ senior squad in 2015–2016 before making an impression on loan at FC Twente in the 2016–17 campaign.
His first domestic loan spell saw him impress at Championship outfit Ipswich Town in the next campaign, before a permanent move away from Manchester to join fellow second-tier side Swansea City in 2018 for a fee in the region of £3m. Two decent seasons in South Wales meant the Kosovan earned a switch to Ligue 1 side Dijon FCO, but just a year later he was back at Ipswich, then back in League One, and in January 2023 he made the loan move to Stoke, who needed to be added impetus in attack under Alex Neil to try and stage a challenge to finish in the top-half.

Celina’s time at ST4 was marked by bad performances and lack of fitness, despite supporters and boss Neil expecting big things considering his good spells at Ipswich and Swansea, and he has probably gone down as one of the club’s least impressive loanees in recent times in the years after.
Bersant Celina struggled at Stoke despite strong showings for Swansea and Ipswich
Celina’s first loan spell at Ipswich saw him score eight goals in 40 appearances, as he won the club’s Goal of the Season award for an impressive long-range effort against Leeds United. He then moved to Swansea and won yet another Goal of the Season award for finishing off an impressive team goal against former club Manchester City, then helped Steve Cooper’s side finish sixth in the 2019/20 campaign before a return to the Tractor Boys in 2021 saw him rise to prominence in the third division. Stoke fans were right to be thrilled about his loan signing halfway through the 2022–2023 season, especially since the Kosovan insisted he was “very fit and ready to go” when he joined the Potters to help them improve their patchy league performance.
Upon joining the team, Celina made two consecutive starts, playing nearly 90 minutes in games against Stevenage in the FA Cup and Luton Town in the Championship. However, he was quickly benched and only made two appearances in the following nine games due to his lack of fitness, for which he was not even included in the matchday squad on the other seven occasions.
In an interview with Stokeon TrentLive, the 26-year-old told BBC Radio Stoke that he had missed a lot of games because he was unable to move for a week due to a fever. However, his time at the bet365 Stadium was essentially over before it had even started, as Neil’s team started to play well in March, and he was having a harder time getting started.
With no goals or assists to his name, Celina only made three appearances for Stoke in the final eight games of the season before being left out of the squad for the final two games against QPR and Watford. It is very doubtful that Celina will stay with the team over his loan period.
Bersant Celina’s Stoke City statistics (as per transfermarkt) | |
---|---|
Appearances | 8 |
Starts | 4 |
Goals and Assists | 0 |
After having little effect in the Potteries, the euphoria surrounding his loan move was short-lived, and the Kosovan was unable to duplicate the prior form he had displayed at Swansea and Ipswich. He quickly left for France at the end of the season.
Stoke cannot afford to replicate a similar deal to that of Celina’s in the present day
Now that the season is over, Stoke has had a rough start. They are currently under the leadership of Mark Robins, their third manager or head coach of the year, and he will undoubtedly want to make his mark on his playing group in the upcoming weeks and months to give his team the best chance of winning in the future.
Robins’ top priority this month is probably going to be attacking additions because the Potters have been heavily dependent on Tom Cannon’s goals and their star winger Million Manhoef is still injured.
Because of Manhoef’s injury, Stoke is currently somewhat thin out wide. With Lewis Koumas and Bae Jun-ho starting almost every game in recent months due to Andre Vidigal’s lack of popularity under all three Potters managers this season, the team is currently thin out wide.
Hurried by injuries Sam Gallagher and versatile full-back Lynden Gooch have also played on the wing since joining from Blackburn Rovers in the summer, but the Potters need to increase their wide-area production to match Leicester loanee Cannon’s goals, and Manhoef is probably out for another two months.
To strengthen their wing options for the remainder of the season, Stoke will most likely turn to the transfer market. While it would make sense to bring in a loanee with prior Championship experience, they must avoid signing a contract similar to Celina’s this month.