Stoke City contract state of play as eight players head towards decision time
Stoke City contract state of play as eight players head towards decision time
Eight Stoke City players are heading towards a contract crossroads next summer, as well as five players only with the club on loan, to leave plenty of room to manoeuvre for Mark Robins and a new head of recruitment.
Three players who have featured prominently so far under new manager Robins – Enda Stevens, Lewis Baker Michael Rose – are in the last year of their current deals, as well as Lynden Gooch, who is recovering from a calf injury; midfielder Jordan Thompson; youth graduate striker Emre Tezgel; and back-up keepers Frank Fielding and Jack Bonham.
Left-back Stevens, aged 34, signed a 12-month extension at the end of last term and has been an underrated influence when fit since joining as a free agent from Sheffield United in the summer of 2023. The problem has been his availability but he has recovered from a calf issue picked up in pre-season and is being used cautiously.
Baker, aged 29, spent the first half of the season on loan at Blackburn but was recalled by Robins in January. He has scored four times in six starts and three sub appearances for Stoke this term, including a stunner from his own half against Swansea earlier this month.
Central midfielder Thompson, aged 28, is Stoke’s longest serving first teamer these days after joining the club from Blackpool in early 2020. He has been used occasionally at left-back as well as in holding midfield. He missed a chunk of the winter as he tried to resolve a niggling groin issue and ultimately underwent a hernia operation in January.
Centre-back Rose,aged 28, has come back into the starting XI under Robins, who had signed him for Coventry. He has clocked up regular appearances since joining as a free agent in the summer of 2023.
Versatile Gooch, aged 29, was a Sunderland fans’ favourite brought in by his old Sunderland boss Alex Neil. He has been used everywhere from right-back to left wing by Neil and then Steven Schumacher, who played him in the number 10 role at Oxford United, when Gooch picked up an injury while making a block.
Bonham, aged 31, had made 63 appearances since joining Stoke’s goalkeeping department after leaving Gillingham in 2021 and is deputising Viktor Johansson at the moment. Fielding, aged 36, joined Stoke in an injury crisis in late 2021 but only made his first team debut this season, in a Carabao Cup tie at Carlisle. The veteran stopper is a popular figure in the changing room and successive managers and goalkeeper coaches have spoken of his value on the training ground.
Tezgel, aged 19, has always been seen as one of the brightest prospects coming through the youth ranks and long been on England’s junior radar. Stoke kept him in-house this season after a few months out on loan at MK Dons but game time has been limited to two league starts and 10 cameos.
Lewis Koumas, on loan from Liverpool; Ashley Phillips, from Tottenham; Andrew Moran, from Brighton; Ali Al-Hamadi, from Ipswich Town; and Josh Wilson-Esbrand, from Manchester City, are all borrowed until the summer.
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