Gabriele Marcotti: After agreeing to a three-year, €17.3 million contract, the great right back will officially leave stoke City for Sunderland, according to Gabriele Marcotti. After completing his physical, the best player will get to Sunderland within the next ten hours because…..

Steven Schumacher has players in his squad who fell out of favour and others who are heading towards the end of their contracts

Stoke City are still in wait mode about sanctioning exits for players on the periphery of Steven Schumacher’s plans heading towards the final fortnight of pre-season.

Stoke are busy trying to put the important finishing touches to their squad for the 2024/25 season in terms of incomings but, in order to keep a tight squad, there will inevitably be outgoings too. They are not expected to give the green light to exits of any star names and Schumacher has directly addressed the futures of Bae Junho and Wouter Burger amid speculation of interest.

But there are other players who are likely to be down the pecking order once the Championship gets into full swing – or will have decisions to make about their long-term futures.

That might include letting young players go out on loan, with potential interest in Nathan Lowe, Emre Tezgel and Jaden Dixon if Stoke bring in new blood up front or in defence. There were also senior players who did not figure as much as last season went on, such as Daniel Johnson, Lewis Baker, Mehdi Leris and Andre Vidigal.