Aston Villa, Ipswich Town plot transfer raid for Stoke City star | OneFootball

The Potters' Viktor Johansson has once again attracted top-flight transfer interest

Stoke City will be hoping for a much more successful 2026/27 Championship season under Mark Robins, with the club seeing their early-season play-off push last time out fade into the abyss as they, again, finished in the division's bottom half.

Indeed, since their last relegation from the Premier League under Paul Lambert eight years ago, the Potters have not been able to challenge for promotion back to the top-flight under a plethora of managers.

The North Staffordshire outfit have still been able to acquire the services of some top-level Championship performers during that timeframe, though, which includes Welsh international, Sorba Thomas, who has been attracting transfer interest in recent months after a 10-goal term in his first campaign at the Bet365 Stadium.

Robins, of course, earned great praise during his previous managerial spell at Coventry City, where he was eventually able to change the fortunes of the Sky Blues, reaching the second tier play-off final in 2022/23 and an FA Cup semi-final the following campaign.

Naturally, those of a Stoke persuasion will be hoping that similar feats can eventually be achieved by the Potters, who finished 17th in 2025/26 on 55 points, with several key players suffering injury misfortune in the final weeks and months of the season.

One of those was Swedish international shot-stopper, Viktor Johansson, who returned to action on the final day of the campaign in a 2-0 loss to Bristol City at Ashton Gate after a three-month shoulder issue.

Yet, even though the 27-year-old recently committed his long-term future to City, it now remains to be seen if that will truly be the case, according to reports in his home country.

Aston Villa, Ipswich Town and Hull City eye up Stoke City's Viktor Johansson

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Johansson has become one of the Championship's best-performing goalkeepers for some time now, having enhanced his reputation initially with Rotherham United after signing from Leicester City in September 2020.

During his time with the Millers, the Swede kept an admirable tally of 35 clean sheets in 144 appearances as they bounced between League One and the Championship, before moving to Stoke for a reported £750,000 fee in the summer of 2024 under Steven Schumacher after Rotherham were relegated back to League One.

Johansson's performances have since reached even higher levels, and the 12-time international, who was omitted from Graham Potter's FIFA World Cup 2026 squad, has continuously attracted interest from sides in some of Europe's top divisions.

The likes of AFC Bournemouth, Como and West Ham United had previously been credited with interest, but after recently signing a new deal until 2030 with Stoke, it has been claimed by Sportbladet that Aston Villa and the newly-promoted duo of Hull City and Ipswich Town all have Johansson on their respective transfer radars heading into the new Premier League season.

However, the caveat is that a move is only likely to occur depending on other movement in the goalkeepers union at Villa Park, the MKM Stadium and Portman Road in the coming weeks.

Johansson did spend some of his youth career in B6, but Unai Emery currently has the likes of World Cup winner, Emiliano Martínez and Marco Bizot on his books, although Hull have been linked with a glut of goalkeeping targets of late, including former Bristol City loanee, Radek Vitek, who is at Manchester United.

Last season, he kept eight clean sheets in just 25 league appearances for the Potters, before seeing Gavin Bazunu - on loan from Southampton - and Tommy Simkin, deputise in his lengthy absence.

Losing Viktor Johansson would be a major blow to Stoke City ahead of 2026/27

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Although not many would begrudge Johansson for making a Premier League move at this stage of his career, it would be a huge blow to Stoke, who, like many upcoming divisional rivals, are likely to target a top-eight finish due to the expansion of the play-offs.

That said, at the time of his contract extension, the experienced goalkeeper revealed just how much he enjoys playing at the Bet365, which could offer some major reassurances to all associated with the club.

The recent signing of that particular deal could also be a major benefit to Stoke, who would be able to command a sizeable fee if all three clubs were to start a bidding war later in the window depending on circumstances.