Former Barca star may have finally found his home at stoke

This defeat, inflicted with a moment of Bojan brilliance, hurts Leicester considerably.

On an unbeaten run of four matches and with a following wind in their fight against relegation, Stoke’s victory leaves their sails flapping with weaker gusto.

With upcoming fixtures against Tottenham, Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea, and Manchester City, a home match to Stoke would have been seen as a vital chance to clinch three points. But in a game of modest quality, Bojan sprinkled some stardust with his winning goal in the 63rd minute. The pass from Jon Walters was slightly behind him, but the boy from Barcelona showed skills honed at La Masia to adjust his body, swivel quickly and direct a laser-sharp shot from 18 yards into the far corner. 

His cost of £500,000 last summer continues to look a steal of Great Train Robbery proportions. Mark Hughes did not shun the chance to fan the flames of self-praise. ‘The figure we paid takes people aback given some of the figures bandied about,’ he said. ‘You look at what we’ve got for the money we’ve paid — we’ve done well.’

Bojan survived Leicester’s rougher edges too. ‘He’s a game little chap, he doesn’t mind that,’ Hughes added, of the occasional robust challenge. ‘Teams will try to stop him but he has a low centre of gravity and great ability.’ 

In truth this was one of Bojan’s quieter games, even as he recorded his fourth goal in 10 matches. Andrej Kramaric made his Leicester debut in the second half following his £9.3million transfer from HNK Rijeka and Nigel Pearson will be pleased if his striker produces a similar goal ratio to the Spaniard. 

Having not played for a month though, the Croatian had little impact. Nor did Leo Ulloa, thrown on with 19 minutes left as Leicester chased a point. Stoke could have gone ahead shortly before Bojan’s strike when Steven Nzonzi hit a sweet volley that saw Ben Hamer react swiftly to fist away.

Leicester’s best chances came in the first half, through the pace and purpose of Jeff Schlupp down the left wing. In the 28th minute he picked out Anthony Knockaert who arrived on to the ball without breaking stride but drove his shot straight at Asmir Begovic, who held gratefully. It was a similar story when Jamie Vardy applied a smart backheel to another Schlupp cross later in the half.

Schlupp was a surprise name in Pearson’s line-up given Ghana left him out of their Africa Cup of Nations squad on January 7 because of a knee injury they estimated would take three weeks to heal.

But Pearson clarified the situation with a swipe at the Ghanaians, managed by Avram Grant.

‘He recovered in the time we said from the outset: 10 days to two weeks,’ said Pearson. ‘He went down to London to have independent medical scans organised by the Ghanaian FA. If they have any problems they need to look at their own administrators, not anything to do with me.

‘He’s our footballer and we abide within the rules. If their manager wants to say anything, quite frankly I couldn’t care less.’