Jese Rodriguez Set for Early Reunion With Former Foe Who Nearly Wrecked His Career

New Stoke forward Jese Rodriguez is in line for a defining career moment this Saturday when he makes his anticipated debut for the Potters.

The loan star will face an opponent who is blamed for upsetting the early progress he was making when he first broke into the Real Madrid team.

The 2013/14 campaign was Jese's first full season in the Real first-team after an excellent couple of years with the club's Castilla side in the lower tiers of Spanish football.

However, it ended prematurely in March 2014 after a challenge from Sead Kolasinac in a Champions League against Schalke left him with cruciate knee ligament damage and facing a lengthy nine month spell on the sidelines.

That halted his promise and he's arguably never been the same player since, even after a high profile summer move to Paris Saint-Germain last year.

Ahead of his first appearance for Stoke this weekend, Marca has highlighted that Jese is likely to be directly coming up against Kolasinac again after the uncompromising Bosnian international joined Arsenal from Schalke earlier in the summer.

Marca has also reminded people of what Jese said about the injury in one of their interviews earlier this year, how he puts his layoff and the damage down to his stalled career.

"I remind everyone that I was on course to surpass Raul's record in the Real first-team, after I had surpassed Emilio Butragueno's goal tally for Castilla," he said.

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"It is not an excuse, it is reality that the injury I had was a brake on my career, both in football and in my personal life, and from there I've lost a lot. To have continuity, to play, to feel more secure and more comfortable, is difficult.

"The ones who know about this are the ones who have had injuries like mine. They are injuries that I do not wish on any footballer. That's the reality."