Well the season is well and truly over, and if I start talking about the Palace match I might cry again. So much earlier than normal the debate on who Stoke should target next season has begun with many big names being circled around the club. But an unusual aspect to the coming transfer window will be our need to replace aging/poor squad players with refreshing and exciting ones eager to impress whenever they get a chance. Obviously spending is again expected to be high, especially when targeting a 20 goal a season striker who will most likely blow the transfer record out of the water. Therefore a responsible spending policy must be taken to improving the squad depth, along with employing some of the more experienced youth players, to ensure the transfer spending is stable. So it may be useful for us to look to the teams leaving the Premier League seeking to move on players who will not be suited to life in the Championship.
Starting with the team who are mathematically relegated Aston Villa. Now many would suggest that this is the worst team ever seen since the leagues creation in 1992, and I would agree but this does not rule out taking some of the better players in their team to boost our squad. The first I would look at is Jack Grealish. Equally adept at playing on both wings, Grealish would be the perfect supplement to both Arnie and Shaqiri. If Hughes can manage him as well as he has managed Marko, Grealish could become a true asset for the club. Obviously behind our two current wide men game time would be limited, but at a young age Grealish could seek to impress with every performance he makes with the aim of giving Sparky a true selection dilemma. Further to this Grealish has something the club looks for in all new signings, re-sale value, making him an even more attractive prospect. That would be it for players from Villa as most are truly terrible and would be considered very high risk signings. A quick shout out to Adama Traore who must be feeling like he made a very bad choice in August, enjoy the trip to Rotherham away.
It’s been common knowledge for a while that Hughes always looks to buy a striker. Not entirely satisfied with his past and present choices of Cameron Jerome, Kenwyne Jones, Peter Odemwingie, John Guidetti, Jon Walters, Peter Crouch, Mame Diouf, Joselu and Bojan: Hughes was actively looking last Winter for a new forward man. Here’s some that could be at the bet365 Stadium this Summer.
One (For the Money): Saido Berahino
Safe to safe we’re definitely in for this guy… Berahino is a 22 year old frontman for West Bromwich Albion. He’s bagged nine goals and an assist in the 35 games he’s played for the Baggies this season, although due to a bit of transfer window drama (partly caused by us) he’s only started 17 out of the 29 Premier League games he’s played in this season. Hughes has made it publicly aware that he wants Saido at the club and to be fair, we know he can score goals in the Premier League when his head is clear; not to mention that he’s a young prospect who will only mature and also helps to fill the English/homegrown sector of the squad. However, we also know that Berahino is vulnerable to public scrutiny and other external factors which can affect his game, something that may become more prominent the higher his profile is raised. Another obstacle is that Berahino’s signature won’t come without competition from other Premier League heavy hitters. Spurs have also been interested in signing Berahino as well as a host of mid-to-lower-table teams. But the biggest threat may come from West Brom’s owner, Jeremy Peace. Peace has blocked big money moves for Sadio previously and may elect to do so again, although Berahino’s contract does expire soon, so this might just ease Peace’s grip slightly, but who know’s what price he will demand?
Munas Dabbur you may say in a very confused manner? Yes, We’ve never heard of him before either.
Today The Sentinel have reported that we have been linked with the current Grasshopper no. 9 so we thought we would dig a little deeper and take a closer look at the apparent Stoke target.
Born in Nazareth, Israel in 1992 he started his youth career with his boyhood side Macabi Nazareth spending 7 years there from the age of 11-18 before moving to Macabi Tel Aviv where he spent a year on a youth contract. However, Dabbur was to move back to Nazareth to start his professional career. He spent a year back in his hometown but could only muster up 5 appearance in which he failed to score in any of them.
The wing is a position that Stoke have had very few recruits for in recent years. Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri are currently the only senior wingers at the club, with the likes of Jon Walters and Ibi Afellay occasionally covering in for them during times of need. As good as both of them have been this season, Arnie is yet to sign a new deal with the Potters and Shaqiri hasn’t come without his niggling injury troubles (although a full pre-season may solve this issue). It would be wise for Hughes to bring in some more players in such a threadbare position; and it might be a nice excuse to see some more young, big-future players at the club.
One (For the Money): Andriy Yarmolenko
It’s this man yet again. Yarmolenko is a 26 year old Ukrainian winger who plays for Dynamo Kiev. He’s played 33 games for Kiev this season, scoring 19 goals and providing 13 assists. Yarmolenko has been a long standing target for Stoke ever since Hughes took over the club, with the previous Summer being the highest profile pursuit of the forward; leading to a prolonged affair between wingers Yarmolenko, fellow Ukrainian Yevhen Konoplyanka and current Stokie Xherdan Shaqiri. Yarmolenko has a very prolific goalscoring and assist-providing record and has done for any seasons with Kiev and with his national side (23 goals in 57 caps), this obviously makes him very desirable if he can keep this record going. On top of this, Yarmolenko also is known for his blistering pace, his surprising strength and his devilish flair, often humiliating his opposing fullback before cracking a goal away. Previous pursuits have broken down before because of Kiev club President, Ihor Surkis; claiming that he would prefer Andriy to move onto a higher-profile club than Stoke. However Surkis has just revealed that Andriy is now free to leave the club (at the right price of course) and this could trigger a third Summer saga between Stoke, Yarmolenko and some crazy Ukrainian owners.
Mark Hughes and Stoke signed Giannelli Imbula for £18m, but rather than this just being a one-off big money purchase, it could be the sign of things to come, fitting into the growing spending trend in the Premier League. We do have good cover in this position already, with lots of different options too. However: the club may look to recruit some long term cover and competition for Glenn Whelan; plus bearing in mind that some of the current players may look to be getting more game time at a different club this Summer and, especially with the majority of our central players (besides Imbula and Bojan) creeping up towards 30 years of age, it might be nice to see another young, up and coming talent in the Stoke midfield.
One (For the Money): Axel Witsel
Witsel is a 27 year old Belgian from Zenit St. Petersburg. He has played 36 times for his club this season and has five goals and five assists. He also has 60 caps for his country. Witsel is known for his good passing ability and general forward play as well as being able to mix in his physicality to help out his defence. Stoke moved for Witsel in January, offering around £12m for his services, but were unsuccessful. It seems the player might want to move onto a bigger club should he leave Russia, however an expiring contract and a lack of bids from other teams might force Zenit’s hand to sell. One thing to bear in mind is that Witsel is already entering the prime stages of his career and, even though not as experienced as others currently in the Stoke squad, Stoke may look for a younger face.
So the season is coming to a close and it’s that time of year (perhaps too readily) begin to think about that changes in playing staff that might be made over the Summer and what they might have to look forward to next season. At the moment, the size of the squad is considerably bigger than the amount of players that Hughes uses on a regular basis. Not that that is a bad thing (mainly for the sake of injuries) or something that isn’t a regular occurrence in other Premier League clubs, but it does give reason for some of the fringe players to consider their futures at their club and Stoke is no exception. There have been a few players in the Potteries who either haven’t signed new deals, will be injured looking into the next season, are looking to get more game time or are looking to move towards ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ things. It’s almost inevitable that some players will leave and therefore Hughes will want to make some more signings to replenish his squad; whether they be hurled straight into the first team or are assigned a more ‘squad player’ type of role. There have been faint whispers of transfer rumours running for the last few weeks and months, some of them are included in the review below, along with some other intriguing alternatives that the Potters could realistically look into.
Defenders
Mark Hughes could look to bolster his defence this Summer, after seeing many of his current squad sidelined for significant periods of time this season and, therefore, relying on an inconsistent back-line. Along with that, the fact that other clubs may be mooting around for our players and that some of our defenders are ageing, here are some targets that hughes could well be bringing in.
There’s been far too much optimism around these parts as of late, so I thought it was time to poke my head above ground once again. With summer fast approaching there are no doubt going to be countless blogs looking at specific or groups of players who might be joining the Mighty Potters in the coming transfer window. However to continue the pessimism I thought I’d take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum and look at who might be leaving the family come July 1st.
Peter Crouch
God bless this man, I love him, I really do. But the former England international simply hasn’t been the same this season. Peter would be the first to admit that pace isn’t a part of his game, which is why he can still do a similar job today at the ripe age of 34, as he could when he first joined us. However our style of play has changed dramatically since then, and I believe that his flourishing partnership with Bojan last season was his last decent run for the side. After finding it nearly impossible to break into the first team this season, despite Hughes clearly not having any confidence in any one of his strikers over the others.
Crouch’s inability to play as the mobile and flexible forward, combined with his clear frustration at lack of game time makes him an easy choice to be leaving in the summer. Possibly as one of our first deals.
Reports surfacing from Italy have linked Stoke with a move for AC Milan forward M’baye Niang. The French under-21 international, who was subject of an unsuccessful £12 million bid from Leicester in January, has appeared 17 times for Milan this season but is currently out through injury. Rumours suggest that The Potters are monitoring his situation as Milan could be looking to sell him come the Summer, but may face competition from Borussia Dortmund.
The 21-year-old can play as either a striker or wide midfielder. He came through the youth team at Caen, and earned himself trials at Arsenal and Tottenham before choosing to sign for the red side of Milan back in 2012. A goal in his debut made him the second youngest goal scorer in Milan history. He has since had two loan spells away from the Italian club.
Standing at 6’1, Niang has a reasonable bit of physical presence for someone who is regarded as pacey and agile. This combination has proven to be effective in the Premier League which is seen as both tough and high-tempo.
Whilst on loan at Montpellier Niang scored five goals and got two assists in a total of 22 games. More impressively during his loan spell at Genoa, he scored five times in 14 appearances, managing three assists, before having his loan cut short through injury. For AC Milan this season, he has scored five times (he absolutely loves that number five doesn’t he) in 14 league appearances, and three times in four cup matches. Its worth considering the fact that he does periodically drop onto the wing and isn’t always sent out specifically to find the net.
In comparison to our current out and out strikers so far this season, Joselu and Diouf have only managed 4 goals each in 24 and 27 appearances respectively. This means Niang has scored the same amount of goals as these two players combined in just 17 appearances.
It wouldn’t be fair to overlook Arnautovic who is our top scorer in the 2015/16 campaign. He has scored 11 goals from 35 appearances from a wider position, similar to Niang, and at the time only cost us £2 million. Milan will probably be looking for upwards of £12 million for the French national, is this good value and would he add something useful to our squad?
As always, here’s a YouTube compilation of his best bits with some awful music:
Mark Hughes’ Barcelona contacts have proven very useful since he took over Stoke back in the Summer of 2013. Marc Muniesa’s arrival from Camp Nou was the first of a wave of ex-barca-boys who made the decision to join him at the West Midlands side. The success of these amigos begs the question; who next?
Marc Bartra, 25, has been playing for Barcalona since he was 11. The central defender has struggled to find a place in the starting line-up and has occasionally been linked with a move away from the club. Bartra has made nine full appearances for Spain, and a further 37 at youth team levels.
He could provide good cover for Ryan Shawcross who seems like he has a recurring back problem. Barcelona are said to want around 12-million for the defender who may be looking for more game time given his age.
Munir, still only 20, plays generally as a striker but is also used on the right wing. He is Barcelona’s third youngest goal-scorer after none other than our own Bojan Krkic and some lad called Lionel Messi. He was nominated for the Golden Boy Award in 2014 and has been slowly integrated to the main side from the Barcelona B-side.
His 15 league appearances this season have seen him score three goals, which all came in one match in the absence of Luis Suarez. His pace could challenge any Premier League outfit, and could provide good competition for Shaqiri, even if only on loan.
