, ‘Recruit the right players’ – What has O’Neill said about Stoke City’s summer transfer plans so far?

‘Recruit the right players’ – What has O’Neill said about Stoke City’s summer transfer plans so far?

Stoke City’s last summer transfer widow saw them change from their transfer strategy of old, now focusing more on younger players and less expensive ones too.

Last summer, there was a sense that Stoke City were somewhat worried about their financial situation. They did their best to shed some weight off their previously monstrous wage bill, bringing in some new blood at the same time.

And Michael O’Neill’s side started the season better than most would’ve thought, but the wheels soon fell off and now the Potters sit in 14th place of the Championship table.

The summer ahead is bound to be another one full of change for Stoke City, who could yet undergo a managerial change in the summer as well.

What has O’Neill said about the summer ahead?

Stoke City see a number of players’ contracts expire in the summer, some of them being the club’s higher-earning players like Joe Allen, and so this summer could give O’Neill and Stoke City something of a clean state to start rebuilding upon.

Speaking on that, O’Neill said earlier this month:

“We’re in a period now when we’ve probably got more freedom in the transfer market than we’ve had for some time in the sense that the players who are coming out of contract are typically the higher earners at the club. There’s been a big readjustment of the wages at the club in this period as well.”

And on Stoke’s emphasis on younger players, O’Neill has brought through a number of impressive prospects over the past 18 months or so, including Harry Souttar, Josh Tymon and D’Margio Wright-Phillips to name a few.

“I think the younger players we have who have shown well this season are all tied up on long-term contracts so that’s a positive for the club as well,” O’Neill continued.

“I think a lot of good work has been done on that side of things to protect the long-term future of the club.

“Those players who are out of contract, the decision will be made by us as a club if we decide to keep them or not – then it’s up to the player whether he wants to stay. That’s pretty much the process. If players leave we’ll wish them well and the important thing is that we try to recruit the right players in the next transfer window.”

During their Premier League years, Stoke spent plenty of money. But the vast majority of that money was poorly spent and it’s left Stoke City with a great rebuilding task in the Championship.

O’Neill recognises that Stoke’s days of big spending are long gone. Instead, the club need to be much more shrewd with their player purchasing.

O’Neill continued:

“It’s something that’s always a challenge. We’re not in a position when we’ll spend any great sums on players so our recruitment has to be very selective. It’s quite a narrow pool of players we’re going to be able to choose from. There are free agents in the market who are probably going to be too expensive for us because their wages are too high.

“But those are all things that we are working on on a constant basis. It’s not something we start doing at the end of the season, it’s something we’ve worked on since we came into the club.”

What can we expect from Stoke City in the summer transfer window this year?

It’s hard to see Stoke making a lot of drastic changes to their playing squad. With players like Allen, Nick Powell and Steven Fletcher out of contract in the summer, O’Neill is going to have to sign some creativity in the transfer window, but expect the loan and free markets to be utilised for that.

O’Neill wants Stoke City to play an attractive brand of football. They’ve done that at times this season and so players will only be signed if they can slot into that style of play at Stoke.

Signings will likely be younger players too, as Stoke look to build towards a more sustainable future. With O’Neill’s future still up in the air though, what Stoke’s summer ahead might hold is anyone’s guess at the moment.

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