An insight into Stoke City deadline day signing Tom Cannon as he prepares to make his debut
Tom Cannon, who completed a deadline-day loan deal from Leicester, is gearing up to make his Stoke City debut following the international break. Though he had several of suitors, he expects to work closely with Steven Schumacher, who has been pursuing him throughout the summer.
However, what can Stoke anticipate from the Republic of Ireland center-forward, age 21? The player at the top of the Potters’ shopping list has been revealed by Jordan Blackwell, a writer for LeicestershireLive.
JB: Cannon has the makings of an excellent striker because a lot of the attributes you would want in a number nine are already there. He gets on the shoulder of the last man, times his runs well and has the pace to win the races. He’s sturdy as well and won’t be muscled off the ball when sprinting through
With a few of his Leicester goals, he also displayed excellent calm, capping one-on-one opportunities with a cool finish that either went around the custodian or past him. He also has a very clean strike to the ball and can deliver some really potent shots.
As for areas to improve, he needs to get better at connecting play in moments where he drops deep and receives the ball to feet. There were a few too many times where he gave up possession in those scenarios. Plus, he sometimes hangs on to the ball too long in search of an opening for a shot, rather than playing a simple pass.
But mostly, his weakness is that he doesn’t do the good stuff often enough, but that is purely lack of experience. The more games he plays, the more he should pop up in the right spots to show off his attributes.
Why would Leicester be prepared to let him go?
By the end of the window, Leicester had enough options up front that they did not need Cannon to stick around. They’ve got Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka, they recruited Odsonne Edouard on deadline day, and they’ve got Jordan Ayew who can operate there as well.
But even before Edouard and Ayew arrived, it looked like Cannon would be departing. He’s similar in his profile to Vardy and Daka, but without the experience, and so he wasn’t offering much different to what Leicester already had.
Furthermore, he didn’t seem to be in favour under Steve Cooper. With Vardy already hurt, Daka’s limping out of Leicester’s last preseason friendly demonstrated Cooper’s lack of faith in Cannon as he chose to start winger Stephy Mavididi up front instead of the striker.
In the fanbase, there’s relief that Cannon is only leaving on loan. A sale would have felt premature, and there’s a hope that a good season for Cannon in the Championship could then see him come back to Leicester and replace either Vardy or Daka.
What’s he like as a character on and off the pitch?
Maybe there’s an impression sometimes that young, pacy strikers shy away from the rough and tumble of a game, but that’s not Cannon. He will put himself about.
Off the pitch, there’s not been any whispers of a poor attitude or poor showings in training to explain his lack of appearances. In any case, he was taken under the wing of model pro and fellow scouser Conor Coady at Leicester, so he should know how best to behave.
As a striker for Leicester who plays on the shoulder of the last man, there were inevitable descriptions of Cannon as the ‘next Vardy’. But he was one of the players he tried to watched a lot of growing up.
While in Everton’s academy, when young players did their analysis sessions, they would watch clips of themselves from previous games, and then clips of players they wanted to emulate. Cannon’s picks were Vardy and Luis Suarez.
When Maresca was asked about Cannon becoming Vardy’s heir, he said: “I would be happy with 50 per cent of Jamie!”
