Stoke City would love January repeat of 2010 Portsmouth transfer deal | OneFootball

Asmir Begovic was a top goalkeeper in his time with the Potters, and Stoke would love a similar deal to happen in the next few weeks

Stoke City have a rich goalkeeping history, with both Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton playing for the club back in the day, as well as the likes of Thomas Sorensen and Jack Butland in more recent times, and one Bosnian international is certainly worth a place among those names after his fine performances for the club from 2010 to 2015.

Stoke were an established top-flight side at the start of the 2010s, after boss Tony Pulis had built a team that was hard to beat and always up for the fight against every challenge that came their way.

The likes of Ryan Shawcross, Robert Huth, Abdoulaye Faye and Danny Higginbotham made up a gritty, determined back four in 2009/10, and Danish stalwart Sorensen was a reliable pair of hands in between the sticks, but was aging at 34-years-old and so needed another younger keeper to challenge him for his place and eventually take his spot as number one.

Asmir Begovic was soon signed from Portsmouth in the January 2010 transfer window for a fee of £3.25 million, amid Pompey's financial troubles, and while he initially moved to North Staffordshire as a fresh-faced 22-year-old back-up, he soon became Pulis' go-to man in goal and was one of the Premier League's finest keepers in the latter stages of his five years at the club.

Stoke are currently blessed between the sticks with one of the best keepers in the Championship in Viktor Johansson, but his fine form could see him move on in the summer to better things, meaning Stoke could do with a similar deal to the one they struck for Begovic over the next few weeks, so there is a real succession plan for the Swede's eventual departure.

Stoke City struck gold with Asmir Begovic transfer in 2010

Begovic was certainly an investment made by Stoke with the future in mind, given that he had only made 11 Premier League appearances prior to his move to the Midlands, but his Potters career did not get off to a great start, as he conceded five goals after coming on for his debut as a substitute against Chelsea, four months on from his arrival.

He kept two successive clean sheets in his next two starts though, to finish the season with real promise, yet still started the 2010/11 campaign behind Sorensen, but took the number one spot in October after an injury to the Danish veteran, and remained a constant inbetween the sticks for the rest of the season.

Begovic spent time out of the team in 2011/12, after some poor form midway through the season, but was trusted in the key games of Stoke's maiden Europa League campaign, and regained his number one place at the end of the campaign, after he had signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract extension at the club in December 2011.

Begović continued as City's main stopper in 2012/13, and began the season in fine form after conceding just 12 goals in the opening 15 matches, while he did not miss a single minute of league action all term, and went on to win the club's Player of the Year award in May 2013 for his standout showings.

Mark Hughes took over as Stoke boss that summer, and kept the Bosnian international as his number one, which saw him play a key role as the Potters finished ninth in the top-flight, their best league finish since 1975, and he netted the one and only goal of his career against Southampton in November 2013, which was later named in the Guinness World Records as the longest goal ever scored in a competitive football match.

Begovic had begun to establish himself as one of the Premier League's most reliable goalkeepers by the 2014/15 season, and after another stellar campaign as Stoke achieved another top-half finish, major speculation arose around his potential departure to a Champions League-chasing side, especially given that the Potters had their own ready-made back-up, in youngster Jack Butland.

The then-27-year-old soon joined Chelsea on a four-year deal for a fee of £8m in July 2015, and brought his five-and-a-half-year association with Stoke to an end, but has gone on to return to the bet365 Stadium on numerous occasions as a visiting player with the likes of the Blues, Bournemouth and QPR.

Asmir Begovic has looked back fondly on his time at Stoke

Begovic was not a massive hit at Chelsea, as he struggled to usurp Thibaut Courtois as number one at Stamford Bridge, while he has played for the likes of AC Milan, Bournemouth, Qarabağ, Everton and QPR since leaving ST4, but can still count the Potters as the club that he has made the most appearances for throughout his career, as his time in football now winds down at the age of 37.

The Bosnian international has spoken many times about his time at Stoke in the years since his departure, but it is probably his recent inteview on Sam Allardyce's 'No Tippy Tappy Football' podcast that best sums up the five years he spent as a Potters favourite, after he was asked to give one word on certain managers that have been influential in his career.

"I absolutely love Tony (Pulis). I owe him a lot. He messaged me the other day actually. He took me as a young kid and really gave me my opportunity. I was starting to play in the Premier League and he saw the potential along with a coach (Mark O’Connor) who was actually my youth coach at Portsmouth back in the day," he told the podcast, via Stoke-on-TrentLive.

"He gave me the opportunity to play Premier League football and created a team and a culture where it was character first. We had a great togetherness.

"We overachieved for so many years really and it creates standards and he was the start of that. I owe a lot to him and I’d say 'hero'.

"He knows how important he was. To buy a goalkeeper who was 20, 21, whatever I was, spend £3m and let me kick on in the Premier League and really make a career for myself meant a lot, We had a good relationship.

"Mark Hughes would be 'important' for me. He took that Stoke team and my game to another level which allowed me to go to a top club. He was really good and I still speak to him today. He was very important."

Begovic clearly holds Stoke dear to his heart, and was able to grow with the club before his eventual departure, but bringing it to the present day, it already feels as if Swedish international keeper Johansson is ready for the top-flight, and is much better than a Championship relegation battle in the Potteries.

With that said, Stoke would love to replicate a deal similar to that of Begovic's in the next month by bringing in a young understudy to eventually replace the Swede when his time at the club inevitably ends soon.