Stoke City’s £2.5m signing can’t stop scoring after quick exit and two transfers
Sam Surridge had been desperate to be Stoke City’s long-awaited regular goal scorer but he left after half-a-season
Sam Surridge has scored 10 goals in six games to race to the top of the MLS scoring charts.
The 26-year-old former Stoke City striker had a bit of a slow start to the 2025 season with one goal in his first seven matches before cranking up a gear in the spring and then several more heading towards the end of May.
He scored four in a 7-2 thrashing of Chicago Fire at the end of April before hitting his stride a month later. In the last few weeks he has scored twice in a win over Toronto, one in a draw with Columbus Crew, two in a draw with New York City, one in a 2-0 win over Chicago, a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over New England and then the winner last night against DC United.
Eight of the goals in that streak have come away from home to help position Nashville in third in the Eastern Conference, a point behind Cincinnati and two behind table-topping Philadelphia. He is now three ahead of the league’s next highest scorer, Tai Baribo at Philadephia while fellow former Potter Eric Choupo-Moting, now with New York Red Bulls, is in joint third with 11.
Lionel Messi is in joint fourth with 10 in 13 league games for Inter Miami. Derby County target Patrick Agyemang has managed six in 16 appearances for Charlotte.
Surridge was signed for Stoke by Michael O’Neill from Bournemouth in the summer of 2021 but struggled to settle in the Potteries and was on the verge of joining Cardiff on loan the following January before Nottingham Forest had a striker crisis and he moved there on a permanent deal instead.
He scored seven important goals in 20 games to help Forest win promotion to the Premier League but he struggled for game time then and moved to the United States in 2023. He scored 15 times in 32 matches last year and has already surpassed that this time around having played 12 times fewer. His coaches out there include former Stoke and Port Vale winger Steve Guppy.
His form has been summed by Nashville today, with a story on their website saying: “With his Golden-boot leading 16th regular season goal of the year, Surridge became the first player in Nashville SC history to score in six-straight MLS matches, logging 10 tallies in that span.
“The forward became only the eighth player and first Englishman to score 10 times in six games in MLS history and is the first player to do so since Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Josef Martinez in 2019. The Boys in Gold are 7W-0L-2D this season and 13W-2L-3D all-time when the Most Valuable Player candidate scores.”
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