Yahoo News Seven Stoke City players heading into make-or-break pre-season
Stoke City have already brought in two senior signings to strengthen the squad ahead of pre-season and there is plenty of work going on behind the scenes to add to that before and after players report back to Clayton Wood on July 1.
But there is also work to do for some of those players on the books to prove to head coach Steven Schumacher that they should be a big part of his plans going forward. Only six of the players currently in the building were in the starting XI that started and won the final three matches of the season to secure Championship status and head into the summer in a positive mood - so the gauntlet is thrown down to the rest to show they can force their way through.
This is Schumacher's first pre-season at Stoke and the opportunity is there for any player, regardless of experience or age, to come back firing and show in training and friendlies that they can be relied upon in 2024/25. Who do you think or hope can come into favour and who do you fear may have run his race at the bet365 Stadium? Join the debate in the comments section.
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Lewis Baker
There was a question mark hanging over the midfielder this time last year after falling out of favour under Alex Neil, who subsequently took away the captain's armband. At that point he had scored 15 league goals in 50 starts and 15 sub appearances. As it turned out, a niggling knee injury needed pre-season surgery and he wouldn't get back on the pitch until December for what turned out to be Neil's final two matches as manager.
The 29-year-old scored a fantastic free-kick winner at Rotherham and in a vital home win over Middlesbrough, two contributions which should not be underestimated, but game time became limited as the campaign ended. Perhaps that was in part to running out of gas having missed pre-season. Time will soon tell. There is a lot of competition in central midfield and Schumacher needs players bursting with energy in that area to play the way he wants.
Daniel Johnson
Kind of the opposite 2023/24 to Baker in a large part, in that Johnson was a fixture in the team under Neil - his old boss at Preston North End who had signed him on a two-year deal last summer - but quickly fell down the pecking order under Schumacher. He only made one league start after Christmas - a horrid 3-1 defeat at Blackburn, when he missed a penalty - and didn't get on the pitch at all after that.
The 31-year-old midfielder is expected to be part of Jamaica's Copa America squad in the United States, which could theoretically detain him until July 14, when Stoke will be on a training week in Cork.
Bundles of experience in the Championship and a fans' favourite at Deepdale with only a year left on his terms at Stoke.
Nikola Jojic
One of the oddest signings in a summer flooded with transfers. Stoke spent a not insignificant part of their FFP-restricted budget on a 20-year-old inverted winger project signing from Serbia. Jojic then couldn't do enough with the under-21s to force his way into the first team thinking.
Still young and on a four-year deal which gives him plenty of time, in theory, to settle and catch the eye. Goals from that wide role would do that, if he can suddenly deliver in spades, and the under-21s will be with the first team during pre-season, including that week in Cork.
Mehdi Leris
The 26-year-old was praised for his attitude, seen as consistently one of the hardest working players in training and, as a winger, he challenged for more headers (149) than any other player in the squad bar Luke McNally (182). That was a useful attribute to have at times when Stoke desperately needed an out ball.
But the big figures for anyone in the forward line will be goals created and scored and Leris totted two in both, plus another goal and assist in the Carabao Cup, from 21 starts and 12 sub appearances in all.
He has Million Manhoef to compete with on the right too but perhaps their completely different styles will prove useful over the long and challenging Championship campaign. Almost all managers stress the need to be patient with players, particularly forward players, moving to England and finding their feet in a new competition.
Liam McCarron
A year on the fringes for the 23-year-old left-back, who was not registered in the squad submitted to the EFL but made his Stoke debut in an FA Cup tie against Brighton.
It's two years now since he joined from Leeds United and he needs to play games somewhere to show what he can do. A loan to Port Vale in 2022/23 was aborted.
Ryan Mmaee
Another forward, aged 26, who was only in his first year in England but tested patience too much in January, when he was sent to train with the under-21s. A little chastened on his return to the seniors but ended the season in the treatment room due to a hamstring injury.
Stoke need beyond almost anything else a centre-forward who can lead the line and score regularly. The challenge is clear as Mmaee prepares to return to Clayton Wood to try to prove that can be him.
Andre Vidigal
A very different winger to Leris - he won four headers in 2023/24 - but he did score goals in his first month in England, finding the net five times in his opening six matches in league and cup. Injury derailed that start and he never really got going again. There was a bright Boxing Day at Birmingham but he was emphatically overtaken in the pecking order for the left of attack by Bae Junho.
The 25-year-old is tasked with proving he has learned from his first taste of the Championship.
STOKE CITY SQUAD AS IT STANDS
GOALKEEPERS: Jack Bonham, Alfie Brooks, Frank Fielding, Viktor Johansson, Scott Morris, Tommy Simkin
DEFENCE: Freddie Anderson, Luke Badley-Morgan, Matthew Baker, Jaden Dixon, Ben Gibson, Lynden Gooch, Liam McCarron, David Okagbue, Michael Rose, Enda Stevens, Junior Tchamadeu, Ben Wilmot
MIDFIELDERS: Lewis Baker, Wouter Burger, Jack Griffiths, Daniel Johnson, Gabriel Kelly, Josh Laurent, Darius Lipsiuc, Ben Pearson, Sol Sidibe, Jordan Thompson
ATTACK: Niall Ennis, Rakealan Jeffers, Nikola Jojic, Bae Junho, Mehdi Leris, Nathan Lowe, Million Manhoef, Dara McGuinness, Ryan Mmaee, Emre Tezgel, Andre Vidigal
