Stoke City’s final few years in the Premier League saw the club make a number of high-profile signings that proved to be disastrous.

The Potters had done extremely well to punch above their weight under Tony Pulis and earn their survival in the top flight over multiple seasons.

Mark Hughes helped bring a more attractive style of play to the club, with the side earning three consecutive ninth place finishes in his first three years in charge of the side.

However, it was in the summer of 2016 when the first signs of trouble started to creep in.

The arrival of Giannelli Imbula for £18.3 million was a then club-record fee for a player, arriving from Porto on a five-year deal.

The midfielder signed for the club in the aforementioned summer, with Hughes’ side finishing 13th in the table, 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

Giannelli Imbula’s underwhelming Stoke stint

Imbula did not live up to expectations after arriving from Porto, as he went on to feature just 26 times in the league for the club before departing after two seasons.

He contributed just two goals from just over 2,000 minutes of game time in the top flight before being loaned out to Toulouse in 2017.

The now 31-year-old spent two more seasons on loan, with Rayo Vallecano and Lecce, before having his contract terminated in 2020, with the team then competing in the Championship.

His exit was a sign of how far the team had fallen since his arrival, with the side having just come 15th in the second tier table.

Imbula’s career away from Stoke hasn’t exactly set the world on fire either, further highlighting what a waste of valuable resources his signing was at the time.

Unfortunately for supporters, this was just the beginning of a trend as Hughes’ side continued to decline into 2017 following the arrival of further wasted signings.

Stoke’s poor transfer record proved costly with Kevin Wimmer and Saido Berahino

The additions of Kevin Wimmer and Saido Berahino in 2017 were supposed to bring extra defensive solidity and attacking firepower to Hughes’ side after their dip the previous campaign.

Wimmer was signed for a reported £18 million from Tottenham Hotspur, having been unable to break into the Spurs first-team squad on a regular basis – with the London outfit actually making a huge profit on the £4.3 million they intiially paid for the Austrian.

Meanwhile, Berahino cost an initial £12 million from West Brom, which could have risen to £15 million based on add-ons that were surely never reached.

A total of £48.3 million spent on the three players proved very costly, with the team suffering relegation to the Championship in 2018.

Berahino and Wimmer featured 13 and 17 times respectively in the Premier League for the Potters, with the former also failing to score a single goal.

The forward remained with the club until he left by mutual agreement in the summer of 2019, but made only 23 more league appearances after relegation.

However, Wimmer didn’t play for the Potters in the Championship at all, and made the switch to German side Hannover on loan before ultimately leaving as a free agent in 2021 after his contract was terminated.

Three players signed for a lot of money all left for nothing, perfectly encapsulating the resources wasted by Stoke in the end of their glory days in the top flight.