Yahoo News Stoke City latest as boss outlines plan for out of contract stars
Steven Schumacher will sit down with Stoke City's out-of-contract players next week to discuss potential new deals or farewells.
Stoke will sign off the season with a home match against Bristol City tomorrow (12.30pm) and Enda Stevens, Jordan Thompson and Tyrese Campbell are likely to start, along with four of the five loan players who are scheduled to then return to their parents clubs.
There are nine senior players coming to the end of their contracts in all but Ciaran Clark and Wesley have barely featured, particularly under Schumacher, on their one-year deals, Frank Fielding has been a training goalkeeper, Blondy Nna Noukeu hasn’t been able to make a first team breakthrough and Tom Edwards and D’Margio Wright-Phillips have been out on loan.
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But Thompson, Campbell and Stevens have ended the season strongly to help Stoke secure their status in the division and it remains to be seen what happens next.
Schumacher said: “Jordan Thompson has got an option in his contract which is in the club’s favour so we’ll talk about that next week.
“The same with Tyrese and Enda. We’ll sit down and speak to them after the game, speak to their agents and come up with a plan moving forwards. This week it’s just been focusing on the game.”
Campbell, aged 24, joined Stoke at the age of 16 back in 2016 after coming through the ranks at Manchester City. He helped the under-18s reach the FA Youth Cup semi-final and made his debut in the Premier League in 2018. He had a spell out on loan at Shrewsbury Town before finding his feet as a first team regular in the Championship under Michael O'Neill in 2020. No one has made more appearances for Stoke since relegation.
Thompson, aged 27, joined Stoke from Blackpool for a nominal fee in January 2020, brought in by O'Neill, who was also his manager for Northern Ireland. He has now passed 150 appearances too and has been used at left-back as well as in a holding midfield role by Schumacher this season.
Stevens, aged 33, arrived as a free agent from Sheffield United last summer and has made 17 starts and three sub appearances in a campaign derailed by injuries. He has made a significant impact when he has been available.
Edwards, Campbell's old youth teammate, has struggled to hold to hold down a starting shirt at Huddersfield Town but Wright-Phillips has won promotion out in Belgium with Beerschot.
Clark, aged 34, has only made three appearances since joining Stoke as a free agent in a centre-back injury crisis back in October. His last game came in Alex Neil's last match as manager too, a 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on December 9.
Wesley, aged 27, has made 20 league appearances, including 15 as sub, but only two in the New Year and no starts under Schumacher. He hasn't found the net during his season at Stoke but he did help force a late winner at home against Leeds in October.
