Stoke City reaction given to transfer decision on 'brilliant Championship goalscorer' | OneFootball

FLW's Stoke fan pundit believes the club have been unlucky when it comes to injuries to forward Sam Gallagher

Stoke City head into their ninth consecutive Championship season imminently, as the Potters desperately look for a route back to the Premier League following relegation back in 2018.

Stoke have yet to make their first piece of transfer business this summer, in what will be another huge window for the club as they finally try to break their unwanted bottom-half finish streak.

Indeed, in each of the last ten years, Stoke have finished in the bottom half of whatever league they have been in, which has somehow culminated in just one relegation.

Mark Robins' side looked set to break that streak last time around, but a truly abysmal run of form saw the Potters crash down the Championship table to 17th, continuing their unwelcome trend.

As deals for West Bromwich Albion shot-stopper Josh Griffiths and Braga midfielder Djibril Soumare, who spent last season on loan with Sheffield United, close in, Stoke are seemingly aiming to shift some of their bigger earners off the books to raise funds, with an injury-prone centre-forward potentially on his way out of the Potteries.

Sam Gallagher has been linked with a Stoke City exit this summer after an injury-laden spell

Action images

Heading into the next campaign, Stoke have the likes of Milan Smit, Robert Bozenik, Nathan Lowe, Emre Tezgel, and Sam Gallagher on the books, as Robins will be preparing to shift at least two or three of them.

According to Alan Nixon, Gallagher is the obvious candidate to move on, as the Potters are prepared to allow the 30-year-old to leave the club for close to nothing after a disappointing spell at the bet365 Stadium.

Signed for around £1.5 million from division rivals Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2024, Gallagher had made over 30 league appearances in four out of his five seasons at Ewood Park, but since he arrived at Stoke, he has not managed that feat once.

With 22 league games in his debut season and 19 in his most recent, Gallagher's five goals in 42 games have been severely underwhelming, and having missed more games due to injury than he has been available for, his time at the club has been far from ideal.

Capology estimates the former Southampton striker earns in excess of £25k per week in the Potteries, making him comfortably one of the highest earners at the club, something which Robins is seemingly looking to address over the coming weeks and months.

Football League World's Stoke fan pundit, Ryan Beresford, has shared their thoughts on the possibility of Gallagher leaving the club this summer, and whether his injury woes have prevented him from showing his full potential.

Ryan said: "Unfortunately, with his injury record, he hasn't shown the potential that he has got. But the games that he did start, the games that he did play, were brilliant. He scored goals; he knows where to put the ball. It's just a shame about his injury record, because there is a top goalscorer in there.

"And after, obviously, you know, we've had him for two seasons, he just hasn't shown. I mean, I would keep him for another season, but it's not worth the risk of keeping him, and then we're paying his wages for another season to just sit in the injury room.

"But there is a goalscorer there, and if he got his problems right, then he would be a brilliant Championship goalscorer, because he has got the ability to do it."

Mark Robins has a key decision to make on Sam Gallagher this summer as Stoke City weigh up striker options

Action images

Stoke and strikers, unfortunately for the Potters, have rarely gone hand-in-hand.

The likes of Saido Berahino, Sam Vokes, and Scott Hogan, just to name a few, are some of the names who arrived in the Potteries with a big reputation, only to flatter to deceive.

In fact, you'd have to go back 26 years to find the last Stoke striker to net 20 or more goals in one campaign, that being Peter Thorne, as the Potters have rarely thrived up top in much of the last quarter of a century.

Gallagher has the potential to be an excellent centre-forward at this level if he can stay fit and his ability is maximised, though whether either of those things is capable of happening at Stoke is doubtful.

Bozenik and Smit will likely be ahead of him in Robins' pecking order, as the Potters may have to swallow their pride and sanction a cheap exit for the forward this summer.