Stoke City contract situation presents another chance at rebuild
News from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City try to find a formula to finally pull in the right direction
It felt like the summer of 2023 was a one-off, a never to be repeated squad building transfer window as 19 new arrivals were sworn in at Stoke City.
It is unlikely that the summer of 2024 will touch that many but it will be interesting to see how close it gets considering how big a chunk of the squad has doubts hanging over their futures. That isn’t just questions about whether a player will find form at the bet365 Stadium but 11 who will face a decision one way or another as they come to the end of their current deals.
There are five loan players for starters, including two who were brought in under the watch of head coach Steven Schumacher in January. Daniel Iversen and Luke Cundle are under contract at their parent clubs until 2025 and 2026 respectively but have found game time too hard to come by and it would be no surprise if they were available again at the end of this season.
Sead Haksabanovic is at Celtic until 2027 but has fallen out of favour there. The 24-year-old has only started eight times in the league for Stoke as yet, however, and needs to show what he can offer at this level whatever happens next. Luke McNally, also 24, has been on the bench in the last couple of weeks but has racked up the most minutes of any Stoke player this season. He is under contract at Burnley until 2026.
Ki-Jana Hoever, aged 22, has spent the last 12 months at Stoke and he was being watched by Wolves loan manager Steve Davis in Saturday’s 5-0 defeat to Leicester, when he hobbled off in the closing stages.
Tyrese Campbell and Jordan Thompson, who both also started against Leicester, are in the final few months of their contracts too. Campbell, aged 24, has had a stop-start season and has been asked to lead the line in the last fortnight by Schumacher. He has been tentatively linked with Rangers, who had tried to sign him in 2019 before he signed his present terms. Thompson joined four years ago and has been staking his claim at left-back over this winter.
