Yahoo News Managing Stoke City: Whittling down squad and unearthing a transfer gem
Stoke City haven't been letting the dust settle in close season. Clayton Wood has been a hive of activity in preparation for Steven Schumacher's first pre-season as head coach, Lee Darnbrough's first transfer window as head of recruitment and Jon Walters' first year as sporting director.
There have been two first team signings. Viktor Johansson was the first through the door. The 25-year-old goalkeeper is joining from Rotherham United after Stoke triggered a relegation release clause. Ben Gibson followed. The 31-year-old centre-back had just helped Norwich reach the Championship play-offs.
Stoke have lost five players from the starting XI which won the final three games of the season just finished but that seems like two big holes filled down the spine before the transfer window has even officially opened.
But what tops the in-tray in Schumacher’s office? What is on Walters’ to-do list? What does Darnbrough need to tick off before the big Championship kick off in the second weekend of August? Here is a look at the key priorities for Stoke City as they plot their business.
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Keeping a handle on the size of the squad
Jon Walters was asked about the challenge that Steven Schumacher had in working out the best XI in the squad he inherited back in December. After all, there were 35 players in all who played in the league for Stoke in 2023/24.
“The problem is having 30 players, first of all,” he said. “The biggest problem for any coach is the players not on the pitch. Everyone that’s playing is happy and you have to get around everyone who’s not. That’s quite difficult when you’ve got so many – and it blocks the academy pathway too.
“I think last year, and there will never be any finger pointing from me, it always takes time for players to settle. You’ll see the best out of some players next season after they’ve had a year to settle. It’s the environment you create around those players too, your Junho or Wouter Burger. Junho couldn’t speak English when he first arrived and needed a translator so imagine a year in when he’s settled – and, for me, he’s a phenomenal player who will play at the top level, hopefully with Stoke.
“Then you add the experience and know-how to get out of the league, hence Lee coming in and helping with that side of it, having built squads that have won promotions and been involved in that. You need a mix. Too many players came in last year. Hopefully there will be fewer changes this summer.
“It’s whittling the squad down to have a smaller group and a real pathway for young players. There’s a requirement to have them involved, even if they go out on loan at the beginning of the season and then come back into the fold.
“But ultimately you’ve got to win. You can have all these plans but the main focus will always be on winning. How do we win? We have to create the best environment, bring the best players you can in and grow the rest. I can give you a five or 10-year plan but you’ve got to win. You have to understand that.”
And finding the right balance in a smaller squad
The problem for Stoke at times through the winter wasn’t just that they had a bloated squad but it was imbalanced too. They were overloaded in central midfield but had to ask Jordan Thompson to fill in at left-back and Josh Laurent to do a shift at centre-half.
Steven Schumacher clearly has an idea of what kind of players he wants to call upon as it evolves over this window and beyond.
“When I look back at it. From Game Week 23 to 46, we were 14th in the league with a squad that I inherited and hadn’t had the time or opportunity to work with them to get to a level we needed to get to and recruit players that are going to be so important,” he said.
He added: “There were some teams that we did better than which goes unnoticed because we only finished 17th in the league but, for me, I’m saying that we’ve done better than them with a squad that I don’t think has the exact right balance of what we need. If we can go and get some of those players that I feel make us better, then that gives us a chance to do better than them next season for sure.”
A front man who can carry the goal burden
There will be important incomings. Viktor Johansson is the first number one of Stoke’s own in far too long, for instance. But the wait for a main striker who can score regularly has gone on even longer than the wait for that.
Tyrese Campbell was released to give the club a chance for a fresh start in this position. Emre Tezgel and Nathan Lowe will hope to stake their claims for the future too. It is obviously, clearly, the major transfer target that Stoke are hunting for and need.
Schumacher said in his end-of-term review: “We've highlighted the areas of the pitch and things that we did really well since we came in in game week 23 and there's loads of positives and loads of things that we were doing successfully, but there's a glaring and obvious weakness of what we've got.
“Now we need to be more clinical in front of goal. There's areas in the 18-yard box where we need to score more goals from and there's areas outside the box where we need to create more from. So it’s up to us now to go, ‘Ok, that’s what it’s saying, this is what the evidence and the data is showing us, so now can we go and get the recruitment right to give us a chance that when we’re playing so well we make the most of the opportunities.’
“We don’t want déjà vu. We don't want to be in this position again and I keep saying it. There's a lot of good going on in our team, a lot. We were up in the top six for clean sheets, we were up in the top six for set play goals. There is a lot of stuff about the team that you can work with – but there are areas as well that are glaringly obvious where we can improve.
“So if we can get that right and we can go and get the right personnel – and you get a bit of luck as well, by the way – and you get your signings right then we'll have a chance of doing better next year.”
Mike Pejic addresses this point too, saying: “It is the easy part to spot that. The hard part is to find them and bring them in, particularly when your budget is constrained by Financial Fair Play rules. This is where you need your scouting network. The players are out there and it’s their job to spot the ones who could fit precisely into the coach’s plans, probably with a little bit of polishing.
“The forwards who are already scoring 20 times a year in the Championship will be out of our budget at the moment but you don’t just look at scoring goals when you’re up in the stands and taking notes of potential targets. You look at team play and attributes and you get references about character and work rate.
“We managed to pull one out of the bag when I was working with Lou Macari at Stoke in the mid-1990s, swapping Keith Scott for Mike Sheron at Norwich. Sheron wasn’t fit when he arrived but we knew we could work on that and he’d be willing to train too. In the end we got him fitter than he’d ever been.
His team play was outstanding, his quick and clever link-in play and movement in the area was electric and his one-touch finishing was excellent. You want the striker making runs in behind, off the ball, all the time so it’s a first pass option whenever and wherever on the pitch you win possession. What an impact that has on the opposition and his teammates.
“It didn’t just happen for him, he made it happen. He had the hunger, the potential and the creativity that made it possible. He could find space and create space for himself and for others if he was being marked closely, which he was more and more as he scored more and more.
“So that’s the type of player you want and you almost always need if you are going to advance in the league table. You need that football awareness, that nous and reliability, that desire to exploit space.”
Don’t try to do everything at once
Stoke will hope to make big strides this summer but they can’t expect to solve every issue at once. They might think that Bae Junho has top half Premier League potential but it would be foolish to try to replace everyone they think doesn’t. There will be some players who will help take them to the next level even if that then proves to be their ceiling. That’s the all-important first step.
Schumacher said: “Getting in on Day One in pre-season on July 1 is going to give us all an opportunity to build what we think is going to give us a chance to have success. Getting things right on the pitch is important, getting things right off the pitch is important and then the message going out to the fans is going to be so important too.
“We need an improvement, 100 per cent, but we need to make sure it’s a realistic improvement that gives us a chance to stay hopeful and not be over expectant. That's another thing that I'm keen to stress as well that we need to manage our expectations without being negative. I need to be realistic with what we can get to. That will be the aim.”
And Walters said: “We won’t go from A to B and success straight away. There will be setbacks but as long as we’ve got the right environment and the right people across the club then we will be in a good position.”
