On September 18th, Stoke City lost 4-1 to Crystal Palace, their fourth loss in their first five games of the 2016/17 Premier League season. To make matters worse, this was the third time in the opening five games that Stoke had conceded four goals in a game. Their goal differential was an abysmal -11.
While these results were a bit shocking considering Stoke entered the season with pretty high expectations, there was a pretty big cause for the onslaught of goals. First choice goalkeeper Jack Butland was missing due to an injury he picked up late last season and Stoke were forced to put the aging veteran Shay Given in net.
After conceding 14 goals in the first five games, Stoke needed to make a change. Their options after Given were sparse, but at this point anything was better than Shay Given. It was at that point that Stoke decided to turn to Lee Grant.
Grant was hardly someone to be excited about. Stoke signed Grant on a six month loan from Derby County, where he was the backup goalkeeper, to provide them cover while Butland recovered from his injury. You read that right, Stoke were now turning to a goalkeeper that hadn’t even started a match in the Championship this season.
That’s the beauty of the Premier League. You simply never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes you put in a player and things immediately take off.
That’s exactly what happened with Grant and Stoke. Grant’s first PL game resulted in a 1-1 draw against West Brom. The following week he put in a man of the match performance against Manchester United at Old Trafford, helping Stoke earn a 1-1 draw which was their first point at Old Trafford since 1980. Since the game against United, Stoke have won three straight games, climbing out of the relegation zone into 16th place.
Simply put, Grant’s play for Stoke has been phenomenal and he is the reason Stoke’s season hasn’t been a complete disaster.
Grant’s loan expires at the end of January and while Stoke would most likely love to keep him, the question is should Grant try and make his loan move permanent?
The immediate obvious answer is of course he should. The question between playing for a Championship club and a Premier League club is a no-brainer.
But it’s not that simple. At Stoke, Grant is merely serving as a placeholder until Jack Butland returns from injury. Butland is Stoke’s number one goalkeeper and probably England’s best goalkeeper as well. As soon as he’s ready to return he will step right back into that role, relegating Grant to the bench.
Grant’s on-field performances have proven that he is a goalkeeper capable of playing in the Premier League. To call him one of the 20 best goalkeepers in the league right now wouldn’t be a stretch at all. Stoke would benefit majorly from being able to have Grant on the bench backing up Butland, but if you’re Lee Grant would you want that?
If I’m Lee Grant I would enter January and immediately play the market. He’s coming from Derby County so not only would his price-tag not be exorbitant but his wages would be reasonable as well. Surely Grant has proven to be more capable then several teams first choice goalkeepers.
At 33-years-old this could be Grant’s last chance to firmly establish himself in the Premier League. If Stoke want to make the loan move permanent, I would certainly be listening, but not before seeing if another Premier League team would make an offer. Playing behind Butland simply provides no path to first team football.
In just a few games, Lee Grant has proven that he belongs in the Premier League. There’s no reason he should be going back to the Championship when his loan move expires in January. But if I were Lee Grant and Stoke approached me with a permanent offer, I wouldn’t sign it until January 31st, giving me every chance to get an offer from another Premier League club.
