Assaidi wings in for second Stoke loan spell

Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi has sealed a loan return to Stoke City.

Assaidi spent 2013-14 at the Britannia Stadium, scoring five goals in 25 appearances in all competitions.

Talks took place during the close-season over the possibility of making the switch permanent, but discussions broke down, with both Liverpool’s reported £7million asking price and the player’s requested personal terms understood to have been a stumbling block.

But the 26-year-old Morocco international will now spend the rest of the current campaign with Mark Hughes’ team.

Assaidi’s return offers a timely boost to Hughes’ attacking options amid fears that Peter Odemwingie sustained cruciate knee ligament damage during Saturday’s 1-0 win at Manchester City.

Hughes told the club’s official website: “It’s unfortunate that we look like being without Peter for a while but following his setback we felt it was important that we moved to bolster the resources at our disposal.

“It’s clear from talking to Oussama that he really enjoyed his time with us last season and he’s looking forward to picking up where he left off with us.”

Tony Scholes, Stoke’s chief executive, admitted that the deal came out of the blue.

“We thought we had concluded our incoming transfer business for this transfer window but we re-evaluated our plans after losing Peter to injury for the foreseeable future,” said Scholes.