Josh Maja is looking forward to a long-term future at Stoke City after linking up with the Championship club on loan from Girondis Bordeaux.
Maja joined Stoke City on deadline day and the Potters have an option to make the deal with Bordeaux permanent in the summer.
The 23-year-old wants to score the goals until then to make sure it happens.
“I heard of the interest in the early days of January. It was a bit of a surprise because I haven’t had any interest from Stoke previously at Sunderland, Fulham or at Bordeaux and to get that was a blessing. Any interest from a club as big as this is a blessing,’Maja told the club’s official website.
“I’m happy to be here and hopefully I can show the fans, the manager, the players what I’m capable of doing.
“It was ambition and the admiration that the coaching staff have for me here (to persuade me to come). They showed a big interest and they did a very good job of convincing me to take the opportunity come here.
“It’s a long-term mind set too. It’s a loan deal with an option so if all things go well then I will be here longer than the end of this season. We’ll see how it goes but I’m excited.”
Maja is also delighted with the option to make the deal permanent
“It’s very important,” he said. “My time at Bordeaux hasn’t been easy this season. I was injured at the start and haven’t had much game time.
“”I’ve come here to hopefully get a good amount of games and score a lot of goals to have a big impact on the club and hopefully I can do the job and take the club where it belongs, which is the Premier League.
“It didn’t take much selling, they had a lot of admiration for me and I know Stoke is a big club with a lot of history in the Premier League. That’s where I want to be and hopefully I can take the club where it should be.”
