STOKE-ON-TRENT, England (CMC) – Trinidadian striker Kenwyne Jones has joined Stoke City from Sunderland for a club-record fee, just days ahead of the start of the new Premiership season. The 25-year-old Jones, who spent three years at the south-east England club, made the move on Wednesday for a fee of eight million pounds sterling.
Linked to several clubs in recent months including giants Liverpool, Jones finally sealed his move to the Britannia Stadium after passing a medical on Wednesday afternoon.
The transfer will see him form another alliance with manager Tony Pulis whom he played under back in 2005 when he served a loan spell at Stoke.
“This is an exciting new chapter in my career and I want to do my best for a club that has clearly had great success since I was last here,” said the six-footer Jones.
“I am looking forward to the challenge of helping Stoke build upon the progress it has made over the past two years in the Premier League.”
Pulis, who has been in charge of the West Midlands outfit for the last four years, said he was delighted to have Jones’ services.
“Kenwyne is unplayable on his day which is why this is a fantastic signing for this football club. We need goals in our team and we also need strong competition among our strikers if we are to continue improving at this level,” said Pulis who led Stoke to 11th spot last season.
“Kenwyne will give us that. It’s no secret that I am one of his biggest admirers. He did a smashing job for us when he was here on loan. He was very young back then, but I believe that he has the best years ahead of him as a top striker.”
Jones’ time at Sunderland was riddled by injuries, however. He scored seven goals from just 19 starts in his first season but a bad knee injury while on international duty kept him to 12 goals in his second season.
Last year, Jones managed just nine goals in another campaign that was beset by injury.
He will now link up with Jamaican international Ricardo Fuller who has spent the last four seasons at Stoke.