news-engine

← stoke_city

Stoke City transfer news as five new signings in contention for debuts

· Peter Smith · 2026-08-05 · nguồn gốc

Jon Walters gave a whistle-stop run through Stoke City’s summer recruits so far ahead of what could be five competitive debuts this weekend. Stoke have brought Josh Griffiths into the goalkeeper department, signed centre-half Luke Graham from Dundee and added Svante Ingelsson, Djibril Soumare and Ethan Galbraith into an overhauled central midfield. All are in contention to feature against Oldham Athletic in the Carabao Cup first round at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday (3pm) - and there is an acknowledgement that more is still needed, particularly to add goals to the squad. Walters said: “We knew we needed a new number two goalie. We wanted Tommy to have another season on loan in League One. He will be much better for that. We needed a competent number two who is a one-and-a-half almost, who can step in – and Josh has shown that in pre-season. He’s been really good. He’s surprised a few people with how good he is with his feet and things like that. FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest Stoke City news, analysis and more via the Sentinel “I’ve been a big admirer of Ethan for years. The fact that he became available was a bit of a shock. I think I said it in a meeting with staff that it had to be done within 24 hours. We had to work really hard, really quickly to make that happen. “Luke Graham is a left-footed centre-half, which is like rocking horse muck. He’s shown what he’s about. He’s still young and he’ll make mistakes like all young players do as he grows but I think we’ve seen glimpses in pre-season what he’s all about. He’s got quality on the ball, he can step out with it and he can be a magnet in the box. We’re really pleased with him so far. It’s a big step up in terms of intensity from the SPL to the Championship straight away. “I think we all enjoyed Svante’s long throw at the weekend. There was a build up to it and it’s always nice to have that kind of throw in the armoury. What I did and didn’t like watching from him last season was that he left it on a few of our players. You would watch him in games and he would drive things on the pitch and in the changing room. Every bit of feedback we got from around Sheffield Wednesday and people who have worked with him – and he’s known Vik since he was very young – was that was his personality. We felt we needed that in the dressing room. “Djibril is one of those players who can be anything he wants to be. He’s got all the attributes. When you sign a Championship player there’s something that they don’t have and you have to add, whether it be training every day, technique, physicality. Djibril is the same and if you get him right he’ll go one way. He took a knock against Crewe but played 15 minutes at the weekend. “We know what we still need to do. We know a couple in certain areas and cover in certain areas – but not just cover, people who can actually play. And we know we need more goals so how do we do that, whether it’s top end, wingers or number 10.” The transfer window stays open until September and Stoke remain in the market for new blood – but it doesn’t sound like they will be keen to rely on the loan system. Walters said: “I don’t like the loan market. John (Coates) doesn’t like the loan market either. You develop someone else’s player usually and we’ve been stung a couple of times. We’ve had to use it in terms of the finances sometimes. “You want to use the loan market to really improve the squad or bridge a gap. We want to use it only if it will really help the squad or the team on the pitch – but I don’t like using it. We want to own our players and develop them and train them to where they need to be.” What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate