Stoke City left frustrated by Leicester City as fresh Tom Cannon transfer revelation emerges | OneFootball

Leicester's January need to sell Tom Cannon blocked a permanent move to Stoke

Stoke City's hopes of signing Tom Cannon on a permanent deal were crushed by the Foxes' will to sell him in the January window, with financial constraints meaning the Potters couldn't do a deal.

That's according to Alan Nixon, who claims that Stoke would've been willing to stump up the money needed to make Cannon's move permanent, but only in the summer - something Leicester were not keen to wait for amid the current interest in his services.

Cannon has already been recalled by Leicester and is likely heading to Sheffield United, in what is a crushing blow to Stoke's hopes this season, leaving them with a gaping hole in attack which they'll have to fill this month as a priority.

It's a far from ideal scenario for newly-appointed boss Mark Robins to have to deal with, and with Stoke looking anxiously over their shoulder near the foot of the table, it's a situation they need to resolve sooner rather than later.

Leicester's decision to sell Cannon this month certainly won't have sat well with Stoke, who will feel a little hard done by that they've done a lot of leg work in developing Cannon in the first half of the season, only to see him snatched away.

That's the major downside to The Potters' current model of loaning promising young players, as they could be recalled at any point if the parent club decides to, and in this case, Stoke didn't have to funds to secure his permanent services thanks to their current PSR stance.

According to Nixon, they would've had the funds for a permanent deal in the summer, just not this month, and Leicester ultimately wanted to cash in on Cannon as soon as possible whilst the interest was there.

That largely owes to the current state of play when it comes to finances at both clubs, which will have left Stoke rueing the one that got away - particularly if Cannon continues his upward trajectory.

Stoke City & Mark Robins will be watching Tom Cannon's next move with envy

Everyone at Stoke City will be watching on with bated breath to see what Cannon's next move is, but there's no doubting that Mark Robins and Sporting Director Jon Walters will be tinged with disappointment that Leicester couldn't have held fire until the summer.

Sheffield United have reportedly had a £13m bid accepted for Cannon, and that's ultimately the type of figure Stoke - despite being able to in the past over the years - could've got nowhere near this month.

It's been a harsh week for the Midlands outfit, who will undoubtedly now be a little concerned for what the future holds for their other loanees, who are all continuing to impress.

At least the returning Nathan Lowe has helped cushion some of the goalscoring burden left behind by Cannon - he scored on his Stoke return against West Brom on Saturday - but it's a big burden on the youngster's shoulders for the remainder of the campaign if fresh competition for the striker berth isn't brought in.