Mark Hughes has made a career out of rehabilitating lost talents - and he’s doing it again with Jese Rodriguez .
Jese is a classic Hughes’ project and his promising career with Real Madrid had gone off the rails since he tore his cruciate knee ligaments in March 2014.
It looks back on track after a stunning debut to excite every Stokie.
Deployed on the left of Stoke’s three-man attack, the Spaniard, signed on loan for the season from Paris St Germain, set the tone in the third minute when he skipped past Shkodran Mustafi and was denied by Petr Cech.
His instincts every time he received the ball were to attack and he dribbled through the entire Arsenal defence on his next run, setting up Maxim Choupo-Moting, whose tame shot was saved by Cech.
The rapper with the glamorous girlfriend, Aurah Ruiz, was also prepared to do the dirty work and he dropped back when Stoke did not have the ball to help out his defence, dispossessing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on one occasion.
His goal on 47 minutes was pure quality and he screamed at Saido Berahino to lay the ball off for him as he sprinted into the box.
His left-foot finish was class as he steered the ball past Cech and inside the far post.
Jese understandably tired after that and was heartily applauded off the pitch by the home fans when he was substituted on 71 minutes.
They are delighted with their new signing and after Marko Arnautovic’s departure to West Ham, they have a new hero to laud.