Stoke City: Why Maurice Edu Had to Make a Move Away from the Britannia Stadium

Maurice Edu joined his third club in 12 months on Thursday when he moved to Turkish club Bursaspor on loan from his current club Stoke City (via Daily Mail).

Edu has been through a tumultuous 12 months at the club level that began with the financial collapse of Rangers. 

With Rangers sent down to the third division of Scottish football, Edu and United States men's national team captain Carlos Bocanegra were forced to find new clubs over the summer.

Bocanegra earned a loan move to Racing Santander in the second division of Spanish football and started nine matches for the club before picking up an injury on international duty against Russia in November.

For Edu, the transition to his new club was not as smooth. 

The 26-year-old American went into the worst possible situation at the Britannia Stadium, with Charlie Adam and Steven N'Zonzi both being brought into the club this summer, as well.

All three of the summer additions were forced to compete with Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson, among others, to earn a spot in the center of the Potters midfield. 

Edu was the odd man out from the beginning of the season and he has made just one appearance, as a substitute on October 7 against Liverpool, in his time at the club. 

With the final round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying starting in February, Edu needs plenty of first-team football to stay in the United States lineup. 

The move to Bursaspor represents an opportunity for Edu to claim a permanent spot in the starting 11 as a replacement for Alfred N'Diaye who left for Sunderland this week (via Daily Mail).

Edu is a like-for-like replacement for N'Diaye in the midfield at Bursaspor and, more importantly, it will give the American plenty of reasons to make his national team manager Jürgen Klinsmann select him for the upcoming qualifier against Honduras on February 6.

Currently, Edu is in competition with Michael Bradley, Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones and Danny Williams for the two spots in the center of the United States midfield. 

Bradley is almost always a lock to make Klinsmann's starting 11, which makes the competition for the other midfield position down to four players.

If Edu were to stay at Stoke City, there is no doubt that he would have no chance of making it into Klinsmann's starting 11. 

Now, with his career handed a lifeline at Bursaspor, Edu needs to take advantage of his next five months at the club level to not only solidify his spot in the national team, but to also attract interest from other clubs during the summer transfer window so he leave the horrible situation at Stoke for good.

For more transfer news, stay tuned to Bleacher Report for the rest of January and follow me on Twitter, @JTansey90.