With the club sitting in a very promising league position going into 2016, Mark Hughes was looking to strengthen his Stoke City side in the January transfer window, ahead of an unlikely push for the Europa League.

The Potters had already made some magnificent signings earlier on in the season, with the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay arriving at the Staffordshire club in the summer - but Hughes wasn't done there.

Here, we take a look at Stoke City fans' reactions to when news broke that the club had signed Giannelli Imbula...

Imbula arrived at the bet365 Stadium with high expectations placed upon the midfielder, signing from European giants FC Porto for a club-record fee of £18.3million.

Naturally, Stoke fans were delighted when they heard the news. Imbula had played in the UEFA Champions League for the Portuguese club, and looked like a powerful, strong box-to-box midfielder.

But this feeling of optimism and positivity was soon short-lived. Imbula did endure an impressive first couple of months for Hughes' men, but quickly fell out of favour.

The DR Congo midfielder made just 23 league starts for the Staffordshire club, and also featured for the club's under-23 side on more than one occasion, and now finds himself out on loan at Spanish side Rayo Vallecano, where he has made 19 appearances for the La Liga side.

He's a player that Stoke fans will be praying that Nathan Jones doesn't give a chance when he returns from his loan spell in Spain, after a very disappointing spell at the club...