Stoke City striker Mame Biram Diouf says that he is extremely grateful to manager Mark Hughes for giving him the opportunity to impress at the Premier League club.
After struggling with the likes of Manchester United and Blackburn in his two years in English football, it appeared to be certain that Diouf would be written off as a massive flop. This, however, has changed after just 12 months at the Britannia stadium. Stoke took the gamble on the former Hannover 96 player and it has paid off with a return of 13 goals in all competitions last season.
Some of his goals were also extremely important and the Senegalese striker looks set to remain as a key part of the club’s play going into the new campaign. Since he is just 27 years of age, he can prove to be the perfect replacement for Peter Crouch. The former Liverpool and Tottenham forward is coming to the end of his career. Stoke have already been looking at a couple of forwards in order to act as the backup for Diouf. The African forward did not have a happy time in German football too after scoring just eight goals for Hannover.
“Because of [Hughes] I’m back in the Premier League again and I’m really grateful and happy to be back.As a football player you are always looking for the kind of coach who will really want you and want you to play for him so he’s been a key figure for me.He was trying to sign me for quite a long time. They [Hannover] didn’t want to see but in the end it happened and I’m very glad to be back [in England]. I hope we can continue at this level, trying to win and trying to build a team,” said Diouf.