Stoke City’s 41-Signing Lesson For Another Massive Summer Transfer Window

But what about the club they left behind? What lessons can be learned from the last six seasons that can be used for Stoke’s own benefit, rather than just the development of their ex-managers, heading into another important summer transfer window, hopefully in the Championship?

The best and most convincing argument I have heard from previous regimes has come from Michael O’Neill and Andy Cousins, who took on a major economisation of the squad to stay on the right side of Financial Fair Play rules with a view to a comprehensive rebuild, which was ultimately overseen by Neil in the summer of 2022.

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The biggest thing they took away from their time at Stoke was the importance of having the budget on the pitch. There was a time early in O’Neill’s reign, for example, when the players out of the match day squad doing a pre-game fitness drill were taking home a combined £200,000-a-week, which wouldn’t be far off the total weekly wage bill at Ipswich Town this term.

This season, following that almighty recruitment drive, Stoke have given league minutes to 35 different players but only one, Michael Rose, has started more than 30 of the 40 league games. Only seven have started more than half the games, so 28 players who have started fewer than half and senior figures such as Wesley, Daniel Johnson and Ciaran Clark are not making the match day squad at the moment.

A couple might have been unlucky with injuries at points but that is too big a chunk of the budget going on players who cannot hold down a shirt. Neil and Ricky Martin signed eight wingers for a combined £9 million but were priced out of a move for Jaden Philogene, who went to Hull for £5m instead – and they could already sell him for a lot more now.

It’s a familiar story. Stoke have made 41 permanent summer signings over the last six years trying to find a way of winning in the Championship but only one so far, Sam Clucas, has gone on to start more than 100 league games for the club – although there are two or three who are still in the changing room and should have a century in their sights at some point down the line.

Only two, Nick Powell and Jacob Brown, have scored more than 20 league goals for Stoke – coming at a strike rate of a goal every 4.1 appearances for Powell and one every 4.8 for Brown.

They haven’t been able to find enough players to hang a hat on down the spine of the team and it has felt like a continuous search for a number one goalkeeper, dominant centre-half, reliable left-back, a game-changing winger and goal-scoring striker.

It feels like the focus has to be on trying to resolve those issues in the starting XI this year. Concentrate on the first team.