“I see it happening” – Jon Walters drops exciting Stoke City transfer claim
Jon Walters, the sports director of Stoke City, thinks that larger teams are now interested in sending their players to the Potters on loan.
After seeing the success of loanees Andrew Moran, Tom Cannon, Lewis Koumas, and Ashley Phillips—all of whom currently live at the bet365 Stadium on loan from Premier League clubs—he made this assertion.
Under Narcis Pelach, the Potters are nestled comfortably into the chasing group and are starting to show indications of improvement, even though they haven’t had enough of an overall influence to help Stoke rank among the league’s early pacesetters.
Even though they have won three of their last eight league games, Stoke has only lost once, which gives them a solid base on which to increase their performance.
Since returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2017–18 is still the ultimate goal, their loan contingent will undoubtedly help them improve on that good start. Walters also thinks that their success should help them draw players in the transfer market.
Walters believes Stoke’s success with loan players will help them in the future
Due to the lack of assurance that the player would receive the desired number of minutes, loaning players always carries a risk for the club letting them leave.
Since the Potters already have four loanees and the EFL rules stipulate that you may only have a maximum of five in a matchday squad, Stoke may not be able to make much use of that in January.
However, Walters thinks that teams can now loan to the Potters with some assurance that any player who goes there will play the necessary minutes and return a more complete player.
According to Walters, who spoke to the Stoke Sentinel, “I hope other teams are considering sending a player to Stoke because I know what they produce, guys are getting
“We will support, mentor, and develop them, as well as instill the necessary messages in them. Not only do I say that, but I also witness it. Here’s where we’ll do that.
“You come, you grow, and we invite the loan managers to observe. We’ll explain what we’re doing, and they decide what they want from us.”
All parties appear to benefit, although loan agreements typically work in the club’s interest, as they typically return a better player than they originally sent out.
Walters’ views could be seen as shortsighted
Although Stoke’s season is clearly benefiting from the four loan players in the short term, supporters may ask what the long-term strategy is once these loanees return to their parent clubs.
Stoke won’t likely be able to purchase any of them at the conclusion of the season given their current level of success in the Midlands, so they will have to go out and buy new players.
| Stoke’s loanees across the last two seasons | |
|---|---|
| Name | Signed from |
| Lewis Koumas | Liverpool |
| Ashley Phillips | Tottenham |
| Andy Moran | Brighton |
| Tom Cannon | Leicester |
| Luke McNally | Burnley |
| Chiquinho | Wolves |
| Daniel Iversen | Leicester |
| Luke Cundle | Wolves |
| Ki-Jana Hoever | Wolves |
| Sead Haksabanovic | Celtic |
| Mark Travers | Bournemouth |
In order to close the financial gap with the relegated teams, a Championship team without parachute payments—which Stoke is no longer receiving—usually trades players.
Since there is obviously no financial benefit for Stoke in a loan agreement, believing in short-term players from other teams may be interpreted as a sacrifice of long-term goals in the event that their short-term plans fail.
As an experienced former professional, Walters would understand that, so even though he says Stoke is a desirable place to sign players on loan, he will realise that if they want to safeguard the team in the long run, they must start training players for themselves, not for other teams.
