2 players who could follow Niall Ennis out of Stoke City in 2025 | OneFootball

FLW looks at two players who look set to leave the Potters this year

Stoke City are undergoing another culture shift as Mark Robins beds into his new role as Potters manager, and the former Coventry City boss is sure to want to put his own stamp on his playing squad in the coming months to give his side the best chance of success going forward.

The Potters are on their third manager or head-coach of this campaign with Robins, and his experience and nous is sure to command respect throughout the club and squad, as they look to pull away from the Championship relegation places this season.

Stoke are yet to conduct any business in the January window up to now, but have recently decided to recall Lewis Baker from his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers, with more incomings and outgoings expected in the weeks to come.

Robins has key decisions to make regarding contracts that are expiring at the end of this term, and numerous players are likely anticipating their departure from ST4 either this month or when their deals are up in July.

Niall Ennis is one of those players, with his future up in the air due to a clear lack of recent playing-time, and previous reports linking him with a move away to League One with Barnsley or Wrexham.

With that said, FLW have picked out two Stoke players that could follow Ennis out of the door in 2025, either this month or in the summer.

Andre Vidigal

There was understandable fanfare surrounding Andre Vidigal's arrival in the Potteries last July, due to his previous pedigree as a Portuguese youth international and impressive exploits in the Primeira Liga with Maritimo in 2022/23.

He looked to be worth every penny of the reported £450,000 that Stoke spent on bringing him to the club in his first few outings, as he netted a brace on the opening day of the league campaign to help his side to a 4-1 victory over Rotherham United, before going on to find the net three more times in his next five games in all competitions with match-winning strikes against West Brom and Watford.

He continued to play consistent games well into the season, but boss Alex Neil was soon sacked and replaced by Steven Schumacher before the turn of the year, and he was initially trusted by the former Plymouth boss, but soon saw his playing time dwindle as Bae Jun-ho's form improved.

Vidigal will be wondering where it all went wrong for him in ST4, after he impressed upon his arrival, but fell further out of favour as time went on and only managed to make the starting eleven once in the final 15 league games of last season.

Stoke-on-TrentLive reported in September that the 26-year-old was understood to have turned down chances to leave the Potters late in the window, with lucrative offers thought to have been on the table from Turkey and Qatar, but he has been unable to force his way into the squad on a consistent basis this season either, with just 10 league appearances and not one start to his name up to now.

Stoke are likely to look to add attacking reinforcements to their squad this month, which could pave the way for an exit for Vidigal in the next few weeks, but if he does stay for the remainder of this term, it seems almost certain that he will not be a Potters player by the time the 2025/26 campaign rolls around.

Jack Bonham

Jack Bonham has not been able to nail down a consistent starting spot in goal for the Potters since his arrival from Gillingham in 2021 but has featured a lot more than a number two keeper would expect over the years due to injuries, player sales and loanees being recalled.

Bonham was signed as third-choice by then-boss Michael O'Neill, but ended up playing 17 times in all competitions in his debut campaign, then featured 27 times in 2022/23, and even played 16 games last season.

He signed a contract extension last November to see him through to next summer, and he should be allowed to leave at the end of this season after four turbulent years at the club.

Stoke currently have England youth international Tommy Simkin in their ranks, and his impressive campaign on loan at Walsall so far means that he will surely be set to return and challenge the outstanding Viktor Johansson for the number one spot next season, leaving Bonham as third-choice if he stays.

It would surely make sense for the former Watford man, at 31-years-old, to make a departure at the end of the campaign in order to continue his career and to possibly take up a number one spot at a League One team that is in need of a reliable shot-stopper in between the sticks.