Mark Robins is excited by Stoke City’s deadline day double swoop on London to sign Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Ato Ampah.
Rak-Sakyi, aged 23, has joined on loan from Crystal Palace and is in contention to make his debut immediately away at West Bromwich Albion this weekend (Saturday, 3.01pm). England under-20s winger Ampah, aged 19, has signed on a permanent deal from Chelsea and is in the final stages of recovery from a toe injury.
Stoke had pursued Rak-Sakyi through the whole of the winter window and finally got the deal over the line on Monday while a late move was made for Ampah after Arsenal’s bid for Jaden Dixon gave licence for more business.
Robins said: “Jes is an exciting player as everyone knows. He’s got goals in him, he’s got assists in him, he can move, he’s good. I’m really glad to have him. He hasn’t played for a little while because he’s come back from Turkey to Palace but he’s been training there and had some games behind closed doors so he’s ok. He’s trained with us this week so I’m happy to have him.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Ato. He’s not available to us yet. That can be seen as a negative but it’s a positive because we’ve got him in the building. The timing was brilliant for us but it just is what it is. It’s something we’ve got to work through and he’ll be back pretty soon. He won’t be too long. What this will allow him to do is work in the gym and look at profiling and making sure he’s ready to go. He will be with us to start with and hopefully remain with us.
“You’ve got to be excited by him because it’s new, it’s fresh, he’s had a really good grounding at Chelsea and he’s shown the courage to leave and come in here and really have a go at helping us. We’ll help him.”
He added: “Ato came late and from leftfield although it was someone the recruitment department has been tracking. Jaden going to Arsenal gave an opportunity to do something different and Ato was that player. To speak to him, he’s really intelligent, really bright, really bubbly and really excited to be here. He’s somebody we can work with, develop over time and hopefully, I’m really hopeful, impact the first team immediately We’ll see..”
Ampah does not take up a space in Stoke’s 25-man senior squad that had to be submitted to the EFL yesterday because he was born after January 1, 2004 and is on the books as an under-21s player. He is still seen as a first team prospect.
Robins said: “It’s a signing we’re excited about. We bring in players with good attributes, that’s what we do. I’ve said before, they are not necessarily ready or complete because I don’t think, generally, players are at this level. But he’s got the attributes to make an impact and hopefully he can do that sooner rather than later.
“I think he’s somebody who is really excited to be here, which is one thing, his attributes are another, and the next step is training with us and seeing where he’s at and seeing if he can develop into the player that we think he can and have him as part of the first team as quickly as possible.
“He’s an under-21 player means he doesn’t need to be on the squad list and the hope is that we can start to have players like that who we can utilise because it makes your squad depth bigger and your academy players are ready to make an impact. That was our thinking as we were looking to do something.”
Stoke ended up making four signings during the window, also bringing in goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu on loan from Southampton and striker Milan Smit on loan from Go Ahead Eagles with an expectation that will turn permanent in the summer.
Robins said: “Gavin has obviously got injured but Smudger has come in too and he’s got a bit to do, a bit to learn, but I like him, I like his attributes.
“I think that’s what we’re looking to do moving forward: work them, improve them and hopefully they can improve the team. Squad depth, when we get players back, is going to look pretty different.”
He added: “There’s quite a lot of change to our first team compared to what it was at the start of the season. Work takes time to get into players so it’s almost like starting again while you’ve got a number of players who have been working with us for a number of months, that work still has to be repeated and reinforced.
“Hopefully we can get it settled down as quickly as possible because they’re good players. I’m saying we want to attack the top six – I think we should wind it back and say we need to attack this game against West Brom.”
Robins may be pleased with the recruits but he is also glad to see deadline day in his rearview mirror.
“Absolutely,” he said. “You know what it’s like. That’s an opportunity for people to make money and it can be really, really distracting to people. You’ve got young people being told A, B or C when they really just need to focus on what they’re doing. It doesn’t matter what people say or what people are alluding to with information that isn’t necessarily going to help your career.
“It’s important to focus on the here and now and doing the best you possibly can do and then things take care of themselves, we pick up points, things start to move forward, you improve.”
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