Former World Cup player Robbie Earle says the signing of Eidur Gudjohnsen is proof how far Stoke City have progressed.
In his column for The Sentinel, Earle wrote: "He's an intelligent player who can play in a number of positions, giving Stoke that bit of subtlety after being labelled for so long as a battering-ram team preferring to go the direct route to goal.
"He's a bit in the Teddy Sheringham mould, in so far as he's not so much an athlete because the first yard is in his head.
"He's a player who can keep the ball and bring others into play - and that doesn't half give confidence to the players around you.
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His signing shows that Tony Pulis is trying to evolve his team - and quite rightly so - because any team which stays static gets found out in the Premier League and that's when you're in trouble. "If you'd said three years ago that Eidur Gudjohnsen would be a Stoke player, the men in white coats would have come looking for you.
"And that's a measure of the progress being made at the Britannia."
