“A very sensible and quite exciting signing” – Stoke City fan pundit reacts as Potters seal transfer for 22-year-old

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

New Stoke City signing Gavin Kilkenny is the type of midfielder the Potters need following the departures of some of their key midfielders this summer, according to the view of FLW’s Stoke City fan pundit Ben Rowley.

The Republic of Ireland youth international officially arrived from AFC Bournemouth yesterday, with the 22-year-old unlikely to feature heavily in Scott Parker’s plans in the near future following the Cherries’ promotion back to the Premier League.

He did record 18 appearances in all competitions for the south coast outfit last term after making his full breakthrough at the Vitality Stadium – but most of these displays came during the first few months of the season.

After that, he found it difficult to compete with the likes of Lewis Cook and Jefferson Lerma in the middle of the park, with Todd Cantwell’s loan move in January pushing him further down the pecking order.

The Potters, on the other hand, needed another central midfielder following confirmation that Joe Allen had decided to move away from the bet365 Stadium on the expiration of his contract.

And though FLW’s Stoke pundit Rowley doesn’t believe Kilkenny is a like-for-like replacement – he believes he could be an extremely useful addition in Staffordshire.

Speaking to Football League World before this deal was confirmed, he said: “I know he started the season very well at Bournemouth last year and seemed to be one of the better players in the team, albeit dropping out as the season went on.

“But he seems to me to be a very sensible