Yahoo News Rookie loans and square pegs – nightmare transfer window Stoke City must avoid
There is a lot to debate about what Stoke City need to get right this summer.
There is just as much to say from our collective experience over the last few years about what not to get wrong, the pitfalls to avoid and mistakes they can’t afford to repeat.
It is the first summer transfer window in charge for head coach Steven Schumacher, sporting director Jon Walters and head of recruitment Lee Darnbrough and there is a lot of trust being placed in them to pull everything together.
So, with two signings already in the bag and talks well underway about the rest, here is the anti-bible for the next two-and-a-half months to take us up to deadline day.
Expensive flops weigh heavily
No one is expecting Stoke to spend nearly £50 million in the market this summer like they did in 2018 but there will probably be one or two who require chairman John Coates to get out his pen and sign a cheque.
And it’s these deals where there is the most pressure to get it right. They should and can have the most impact, both positive and negative.
The fees and wage packets won’t have the same long-term burden as happened with Giannelli Imbula, Kevin Wimmer, Badou Ndiaye, Benik Afobe and Saido Berahino – five of the club’s six most expensive ever transfers – but they should be the players who will fly the flag, set the standards and lead the drive onwards and upwards.
It goes without saying that the players you bring in have to be good but a big signing gone wrong in particular is a millstone for everyone.
A big signing that goes right – even like spending something like £2m on Bae Junho, in the context of a Championship club without parachute payments, perhaps – fills everyone with hope and optimism about the here and now and the future. It builds faith and trust that the club can pull itself in the right direction.
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An imbalanced squad is maddening
Stoke have had a busy conveyor belt of signings over the last seven years but, for some reason, some positions have been consistently overlooked.
Stoke haven’t had a goalkeeper or left-back to hang their hat on for at least most of a season for far too long. Viktor Johansson arrives with full confidence that he can sort out the former, Enda Stevens ended last term on a high in hope that he can sort out the latter. There is still scope for another left-back, perhaps, given Stevens’ injury record. There is hope that Ben Gibson can be a long-awaited leader from centre-half too.
It has been maddening to see Stoke have so many central midfielders or right wingers and then asking a midfielder or right-back to fill in at left-back. Patience will be tested if a square peg is squeezed into a round hole. It is even not against the law, apparently, to find a striker who regularly scores goals.
It has been infuriating too to block the path of promising players with players who have clearly not been good enough. Who knows how Tom Edwards' career might have been different if Rowett hadn't signed Cuco Martina? Jones brought in Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Lindsay and sent Harry Souttar out on loan to Fleetwood.
There are promising youngsters hoping to bang down the first team door over the next year or 18 months and Schumacher and Walters have both talked about the importance of streamlining the squad with this in mind.
The danger of first-year loans
The list of Stoke’s loan recruits in the Championship makes for eye-catching reading.
Jaden Philogene, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Will Smallbone, Liam Delap and Jack Clarke have all gone on to be leading Championship players. Abdallah Sima scored for fun at Rangers last season, Leo Ostigard has played in the Champions League for Napoli. Harry Clarke helped Ipswich win promotion to the Premier League.
The problem for Stoke has been that they’ve got them – partly because of the financial fair play situation when Michael O’Neill was shopping for bargain loans – as they got their first real tastes of men’s football. The leap from junior to senior is big and at times it has felt very much like they have just been developing a player for someone else’s benefit.
A scoring record in Premier League 2 might be magnetic and some players can hit the ground running but it’s clearly a gamble. Relying on loan players is frustrating enough but getting them before they’re really ready to make an impact is doubly so.
Who are you building a squad for?
Everyone hopes that Steven Schumacher can bow out in 20 years’ time having established Stoke as European regulars.
But even he was asked in his first press conference about the revolving door at Clayton Wood, with Mark Hughes, Paul Lambert, Gary Rowett, Nathan Jones, O’Neill and Alex Neil all asked to hand back their initialled jackets in the past six years. Each has put their own stamp on the squad and left the next wanting to tweak or overhaul what they inherit.
The big change this time around is that Schumacher is head coach rather than manager and, although he will have a big input in recruitment, he knew he was buying into a Stoke City way. The Stoke City way, however, needs to be developed too and that’s the job of Jon Walters, working with the manager, Lee Darnbrough, coaches, staff and chairman.
They have to have a clear identity for the long-term as well as realising the continual importance of the short-term.
Walters said recently: "I think we've probably lacked it over the last few years. There was a real strong identity when I was here as a player, even if there were different playing styles under different managers. I always felt there was a real togetherness and connection between players and staff and fans. We had that.
"From the outside it's hard to say why or what's been lost but coming in I didn't think that was there. But I've seen the work from Simon King and what he and his team are doing, really engaging with fans. There has been a huge turnaround on that side of it. That's all bubbling under and there's a hell of a lot of good work going on there.
"My job is then to bring that to the football side of it and create something with the head coach and all departments, creating something that fans want to see. If you look at the city, it's about hard work, never giving up, it's united strength is stronger. We need that feeling that that is what we are back and you link that in with making sure the team on the pitch is representative of what the fans are, hard working, having each other's backs no matter what.
"There's an identity you need to bring on the pitch. I know what it is and what is the minimum we expect. You have that with a bit of flair. You can be god as a player but if you don't bring the first part of it, you'll be quickly dismissed. If we can get that back and the intensity and action on the pitch then the rest will grow with all the good work that is going on behind the scenes."
