Stoke City star Bojan Krkić has left the bet365 Stadium to go on loan to Deportivo Alavés.

Bojan joined the Potters in the summer of 2014 from Spanish giants FC Barcelona and quickly became one of the Potters' star players.

The Spaniard has struggled to get back to his earlier form at Stoke after an injury in January 2015 and spent last season on loan at German outfit FC Mainz 05 to find more first-team football.

Bojan out on loan to Alaves

When Bojan returned from Mainz, Mark Hughes told the Stoke fans that he was going to be in his plans for the coming season.

But after failing to impress in pre-season, Hughes was convinced that he needed to be loaned out again and subsequently allowed Bojan to leave - returning to his homeland.

A statement on the club's official website read: "Deportivo Alaves have sealed the arrival of Bojan Krkic, a talented and able striker with experience in the best leagues in the world and with renowned attacking capacity."

Returning to La Liga after Barca start

Bojan has returned to La Liga for the first time since 2011, when he left boyhood club Barcelona for Italian giants Roma.

The 27-year-old was once the great hope of Spanish football when he succeeded the great Lionel Messi as Barcelona's youngest ever player. He later became the club's youngest goalscorer when he netted against Villarreal.

He finished his debut season with 31 league appearances and 10 goals. Bojan's game time was restricted in the following seasons and, after winning three Champions League titles and making his debut for Spain, saw his future away from the Camp Nou.

Disappointing seasons in Italy and Holland

Bojan was then sold to AS Roma for a fee of £8m. With 32 appearances and a decent seven goals, Bojan finished his first and last season at AS Roma.

Barcelona activated the buy back clause but he was immediately loaned out to giants AC Milan, where he had another disappointing season. Barcelona gave him one more chance at Ajax but he failed to impress.

Stoke spell interrupted by injury

When the Spaniard arrived in Stoke-on-Trent, he started quite well. The technically gifted forward was scoring goals, creating chances and epitomising Stoke's transition towards exciting football.

In January 2014, though, Bojan got was substituted after sustaining a knee injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the 2014/15 season.

His return came in the summer of 2015 in a friendly against Brentford. He started playing again and even signed a new contract in February, keeping him at the club until 2020.

In the 2016/17 season, Bojan barely got any playing time. He was subsequently loaned out to Bundesliga side Mainz 05 and, due to his solitary goal, became the seventh player to score in Europe's top four leagues.

In total, Bojan has 73 goals and 31 assists to his name thus far and will hope to add to that at Alaves.