Sam Vokes has signed for Wycombe Wanderers from Stoke City on an initial one year deal with the option for a second year, the club announced last night.
The 31-year-old joined The Potters for £7.2million in January 2019 - according to transfermarkt.com - but has taken the step down the League One to help Gareth Ainsworth's Chairboys compete for promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Ainsworth said: "Sam has been our number one target all summer and we’re so pleased to bring him to Wycombe Wanderers.
"This is the culmination of so much hard work from a lot of people around the club, and we particularly owe a massive thank you to Andrew Howard for his incredible effort to get the deal done. It’s taken a lot of time, a lot of phone calls, a lot of late night meetings, but we got there and it’s a brilliant acquisition for this club."
Vokes arrives at Adams Park vastly experienced in the Football League and Premier League for that matter, scoring 17 goals and assisting six in 113 top-flight outings. His physical stature, intelligent link up play and hunger to get back to second tier football make him an excellent addition. Wycombe lost Uche Ikpeazu to Middlesbrough earlier in the window, Vokes is capable of filling that void.
Ainsworth continued: "He is the perfect fit for us in terms of his character and the way he plays, bringing out exciting creative attacking players into play, scoring plenty of goals himself, and he is the ideal man to lead the line for us in League 1 this season."
Wycombe are not amongst the favourites to gain promotion this term but underestimate them at your peril, they were favourites to be relegated to League Two when they pulled off an incredible campaign in 2019/20, resulting in reaching the Championship via the play-offs.
The Verdict
This is a tremendous addition for The Chairboys, Vokes walks in as the standout target man in the third tier and as Ainsworth alluded to, will contribute plenty along the way as the attacking focal point.
Not being talked about all that much to crash into the top six but Ainsworth will be quietly confident as he enters his tenth season at the helm, the club have done well to keep hold of the likes of Scott Kashket and Anis Mehmeti and with Josh Scowen and Sullay Kaikai supplementing those talents, they are building one of the strongest attacking contingents ever seen at Adams Park.
Ainsworth and his hardworking Chairboys will catch out many a League One manager this term and should achieve a top half finish minimum.