Kevin Wimmer has revealed his disappointment at not being able to make an impact during his time at Stoke City, but admits that he was desperate to leave the club this summer.

The defender joined the Potters from Tottenham in the summer of 2017 for a reported £18million, but fell down the pecking order following the appointment of Paul Lambert as the club's manager in January 2018.

After failing to make a single appearance under Lambert, Wimmer joined German side Hannover on loan for the 2018/19 campaign, but after struggling to find a permanent new club during the summer, the 26-year-old joined Belgian outfit Royal Excel Mouscron on loan for the rest of the season in the final days of the transfer window.

Now however, Wimmer has revealed his disappointment at falling out of favour at Stoke under Lambert, as he told Belgian publication DH: “[Lambert] didn’t want to hear about me and he pushed me to one side until the end of the season.

"It’s very difficult to live through moments like those because Stoke was everything for me, and all you need is a coach that doesn’t like you and he leaves you on the side for no reason."

It seems that Wimmer is not the only squad member who was in that position, as he added: "I wasn’t the only player in that boat."

Yet despite his evident desire to impress at Stoke, Wimmer admitted that he felt the time had come to move on from the Bet365 Stadium this summer, as he concluded: “Stoke desperately wanted to sell me. Clubs were interested but they asked for too much money, so no offer was made.

"Down my end, I absolutely wanted to leave Stoke City and in the last few days of the transfer window, they accepted to loan me to Mouscron.”

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Wimmer made his first appearance for Mouscron on Sunday, playing the full 90 minutes of his side's 2-0 win over Kortrijk.

The Verdict

I do feel rather sorry for Wimmer here.

It does seem as though the defender genuinely wanted to make things work at Stoke, even if that didn't end up being the case.

Considering what he has said here, it doesn't seem as though he still holds that particular perspective, and it wouldn't surprise me if he does look for a permanent move away at the end of his current loan deal.

Given how much they paid for him, you imagine this could prove to be a rather significant loss for Stoke, from a financial perspective if not a footballing one.