BY ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Former Newcastle United midfielder and retired Northern Ireland international Michael O’Neill has praised Josh Maja after his impressive debut in Stoke City’s 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup at the weekend.
Stoke City completed the temporary acquisition of Maja on transfer deadline day, signing him on loan from Bordeaux for the remainder of the season.
It took the Super Eagles striker less than fifteen minutes to win over the Potters fans, making the most of a slip to fire home from fourteen yards after he was picked out by Campbell.
In truth, Maja was a surprise inclusion in the starting lineup for the visit of the Latics considering that the Sunderland academy product logged only 45 minutes in all competitions this season before his return to England.
Potters manager O’Neill underlined that the Anglo-Nigerian attacker needs to get match fitness having missed the first four months of 2021-2022 due to a back injury.
“Josh took his goal extremely well and I think he linked the play up well. He’s not played a lot of football in the first half of the season so he’ll benefit from the 70-odd minutes he had today,” O’Neill said.
“That’s what he needs. For him to show what he showed today was a real positive but we still have to build his fitness and get him as many minutes as we can. He’ll improve with that as well.”
Maja took to social media after the game at the bet365 Stadium to thank the Stoke City fans and also celebrate his first goal in the club’s colours.
