Stoke City double transfer looked exciting at the time - but it was a waste of nearly £40m | OneFootball

Giannelli Imbula and Kevin Wimmer both failed to impress with the Potters and ended up losing the club a lot of money

Stoke City have had more misses than hits when it comes to big-money transfers recently, and are still paying the price to this day for some of their poor spending over the last 10 years.

Stoke managed to become an established Premier League side after Tony Pulis guided the club to promotion to the top-flight in 2008, and Mark Hughes took the managerial reins in 2013 to take the Potters even further and finish in the top-half for three consecutive seasons.

They looked to spend big to consolidate their position in the upper echelons of English football as more money came their way, but numerous high-profile signings over the next few years failed, namely the likes of Giannelli Imbula and Kevin Wimmer, from Porto and Spurs respectively.

Imbula was a highly-rated young midfielder who clearly had all the tools to be a top player, but failed to ever live up to expectations with the Potters, while Wimmer looked to be a doomed signing as soon as he joined, and certainly turned out to be so.

Giannelli Imbula was a talent but had attitude issues at Stoke

Central midfielder Imbula became Stoke's record signing when he joined on a five-and-a-half-year contract for £18.3m from FC Porto at the end of the January transfer window in 2016, but did not repay that figure with his performances in the years, or months, to come.

Imbula was clearly a very talented footballer, but only displayed that every so often in a Stoke shirt and never really seemed to get to grips with life in England or the hard work needed to keep up with English football every week.

He actually got off to a great start to his time in the Potteries, as he played a full 90 minutes in all of Stoke's final 14 games of the 2015/16 campaign, netting twice, but things soon began to unravel at the start of his first full campaign at the club.

The French youth international decided to walk off the pitch in a July pre-season friendly at Burton Albion ahead of the 2016/17 season after someone did not pass him the ball, and then-teammate Glen Johnson later said that he "couldn’t believe what (he) was seeing" as Imbula walked back on 10 minutes later and played on like nothing had happened.

He unsurprisingly lost his place in Mark Hughes' side for that term, and made just 14 appearances all season. It was then reported that Stoke would be happy to let him leave before the 2017/18 campaign.

The Frenchman soon went out on loan to Toulouse, Rayo Vallecano and Lecce, before he had his contract terminated by Stoke in February 2020, as a four-year stay that saw little impact and a lot of money lost came to an end.

Imbula has spoken out after his Potters exit, and admitted in a 2024 interview that he "understood (he) was wrong" when at the club. It was all too little, too late for both parties though, and he has never been able to fulfill his lofty potential over the years since.

Kevin Wimmer never impressed at Stoke

There have been some poor signings made by the Potters in recent years, but Wimmer probably trumps the lot, based on the hefty £18m fee paid to Spurs ahead of their 2017/18 top-flight campaign, and his subsequent impact, or lack of, on their on-pitch fortunes.

He started the season playing relatively well, as he featured in a 2-2 draw against Manchester United, and a 2-1 win over Southampton, but the Potters' form never even reached mid-table standard, and he was soon part of the backline that was decimated at the hands of Manchester City in a 7-2 drubbing, and then well-beaten by Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea, and the reverse fixture against the Red Devils.

Hughes was soon relieved of his duties in January 2018, as Paul Lambert was hired to rescue Stoke from the drop, and the Austrian was placed on a special fitness regime by the former Aston Villa boss in February after being deemed 'unfit to play in (his) high-octane, pressing style of football,' and relegated to the Potters' under-23s.

Wimmer did not play for Stoke's first team again, as they were soon relegated to the Championship, and reports emerged that they were prepared to take a substantial hit to sell him that summer, with apparent deep frustration in the boardroom after the club's hierarchy had been reluctant to pay such a huge fee, but Hughes was convinced that he would prove an outstanding signing.

He was loaned out to Hannover 96 for the 2018/19 season, but did not play enough matches to trigger a permanent transfer, then had further temporary spells at Belgian side Royal Excel Mouscron and German side Karlsruher SC over the next two years.

It was announced in May 2021 that Stoke had terminated his contract so he was able to move to Austrian side Rapid Wien on a free transfer, bringing his near four-year association with the club to an end, after barely making an impact for even six months.

Wimmer spoke about his time at Stoke in a 2022 interview with transfermarkt and admitted that he "couldn’t really grasp" the fee that they paid for him in 2017, and was "shocked" at the difference in diet and professionalism at the club compared to Spurs. The Potters were still a Premier League club at the time though, with new multi-million-pound facilities at their Clayton Wood training ground.

It is fair to say that the Austrian centre-back is not fondly remembered by Stoke fans for his time at the club, and he never really came close to doing anything that Mark Hughes thought he would at the bet365 Stadium. Imbula is the same, although there is a lot more regret there due to his obvious talent that could have taken the club to the next level if he had properly applied himself.

What is for sure is that Stoke lost a lot of money on both transfers, and both were huge factors as to why they suffered their downfall in the Premier League, with the club still in the second-tier to this day.