James McClean has dominated the newspapers over the last decade or so for reasons he would have preferred, as the controversial Irish winger has now disclosed the exorbitant fee Stoke City paid him to leave in 2021.

McClean, 37, is a name that many in English and Irish football will recognise, and your opinion on the winger will be heavily influenced by your personal perspective.

McClean has 104 caps for the Republic of Ireland, and his polarising style has earned him both supporters and detractors. The current Derry City star has now revealed how much his former club Stoke paid him to leave in 2021.

Stoke City paid James McClean £900,000 to release his contract with Wigan Athletic in 2021.

McClean joined Stoke from West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 2018 for an initial £5 million, and over the next three years, he would appear 111 times for the Potters in all competitions, scoring 12 and assisting 19.

The Irishman would even win Stoke’s Player of the Year award for the 2019/20 season, as incoming Northern Irish manager Michael O’Neill initially supported the winger despite the difficulties he was experiencing off the pitch.

However, after appearing on international duty for Ireland when he was supposed to be injured, his relationship with O’Neill deteriorated, and by the summer of 2021, he had lost his squad number and was set to leave.

In his latest autobiography, McClean reveals that, in addition to his stated £30k-per-week contract with the Potters, he was given an eye-watering £900,000 to leave the club before joining Wigan.

Stoke’s decision to cut their losses on McClean just a year after winning Player of the Year encapsulates the Irishman well, since he is now back where it all began.

Throughout his career, James McClean has been no stranger to controversy.

McClean began his career at local club Derry City before moving to the United Kingdom with Sunderland in 2012. He then went on to play for Wigan, West Brom, Stoke, Wigan (again), and Wrexham before returning to Derry.

Unsurprisingly, his unwillingness to wear the poppy throughout his career did not sit well with many people, yet many understood his viewpoint and applauded his tenacious commitment to the topic.

More recently, McClean admitted that he saw getting psychological therapy as a weakness, as his club, Derry, has distanced itself from his comments, and his wife has also encouraged him to seek professional help.

McClean’s outspoken temperament has made him one of football’s most contentious figures in recent years, and his time at Stoke proved to be a costly error for the Potters.

James McClean proved to be one of numerous costly financial mistakes made by Stoke City in recent years

Following Stoke’s relegation to the Championship in 2018, the Potters hired Derby County’s Gary Rowett to immediately guide them back to the top flight, spending more than £50 million on players such as Benik Afobe, Sam Clucas, Peter Etebo, Ryan Woods, Tom Ince, Sam Vokes, and McClean in the hopes of dominating the league.

Of course, over eight years later, the Potters have not finished in the top half of any division in over a decade, as that contingency proved to be a huge waste of money, with every single one of them leaving the club for money, and some, like McClean, costing the club more to get rid of.

Though his tenure in North Staffordshire ended disappointingly for all parties concerned, McClean largely proved to be one of Rowett’s best signings, despite his high salary, and the Potters are still suffering from the financial fallout to this day.