Guardiola, Foden and relegation worries – Stoke City’s new signing opens up on transfer
Stoke City new boy Josh Wilson-Esbrand wants to prove his robustness in the Championship to make sure he can kickstart his career and start to fulfil his potential.
The 22-year-old left-back has signed on loan from Manchester City until the end of the season, reuniting with Mark Robins, who had him on loan at Coventry when they reached the play-off final 18 months ago. His transition from being part of a brilliant youth team to regular senior action has been stalled a little by injuries since then but he is feeling fit and ready to start proving what he can do at this level in the second half of the season.
He said: “I don’t think anyone has a doubt whether I can do it because I’ve done it in France (with Reims in Ligue 1), I’ve done it when I came back to Cardiff but just for myself I want to show I can get that robustness and get those games under my belt and I think everything will fall into place from there.”
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He added: “The players at Stoke have been really welcoming, the staff are really welcoming and I’ve not had any difficulty to settle in. I just want to come in and play football. The injuries I’ve had over the last couple of years have meant it’s been stop-start, stop-start and it hasn’t allowed me to kick on in my career but now, nevertheless, I feel fine, I feel physically good.
“I want to show people what a lot of people already know but a lot of people probably don’t on the basis that I haven’t been able to play as many games as I’ve wanted due to injury. I want to showcase my talent and ability and to fulfil my potential in a sense. For the club, it’s important that we stay up. It’s such a massive club and we have to stay up this year and then continue to build there-on afterwards.”
Wilson-Esbrand was registered seven seconds before the deadline in order to make his debut at Portsmouth last week. It was a decidedly mixed night when he was accused of a foul to concede a very soft early penalty – “Not a chance,” he said – but was otherwise solid, particularly considering it was his first league game since April last year. He chipped in with an assist for Ben Wilmot’s goal too.
He is billed as a left-back but he also played left midfield for Robins on occasion at Coventry and he can play at wing-back as well.
“I’m up for adaptation to be fair,” he said. “My ability and tactical awareness, I believe, help me to do that. I was at West Ham, at City and I’ve gone on loan so I’ve played in loads of different styles and I think technically, luckily, I can play in different roles because I’m able to hold the ball, keep the ball and play with the ball.
“Wherever the gaffer needs me to play or whatever style we’re playing, I’m happy. We built up in a three against Portsmouth and I was part of that three or if I need to come inside or go higher up, I can do any of those roles.”
That tactical awareness has been built up by Pep Guardiola at Man City, with intense individual talks on how he wants full-backs to operate.
Wilson-Esbrand said: “I think over the years it’s changed because he hasn’t kept the same structure in how he plays. It depends on the game, who we’re playing against and what we do in training to prepare for that. But yes, it’s intense. The amount of detail that he gives is similar (to other coaches) but it’s how he gives it. He gives you a different perspective on how to see the game and makes it so much easier.”
He remembers that youth Premier League Cup final back in 2020 when Man City ran out convincing winners against Stoke – and looking back at the teamsheet that night, it’s not hard to see why. There was Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Tommy Doyle, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap next to Wilson-Esbrand.
“Andy (Moran) was talking about it today on the training pitch,” he said. “We, as a group in that team, always looked up to that team with (Jadon) Sancho and Phil (Foden) and all those players.
“Then we won the Youth Cup and the Premier League Cup. We enjoyed it, we embraced it, we enjoyed going out together and just having fun on the pitch.”
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