Jon Walters comments fuel Stoke City transfer excitement | OneFootball

Jon Walters made an interesting admission two years ago that could indicate a real improvement at Stoke City after Ethan Galbraith's arrival

Stoke City have put the rest of the Championship on notice this summer as they spent over £10 million to sign Ethan Galbraith from divisional rivals Swansea City.

The Potters have been a symbol of mediocrity ever since they were relegated from the Premier League back in 2018. In the eight seasons that they've spent in the Championship since, they've finished between 14th and 18th.

It's well-known that the longer a club stays in the second tier, the harder it is to generate top-level funds to sign players, so to spend more than £10 million on a player for the first time since the summer of 2018 has really got critics talking.

Are Stoke, all of a sudden, inclined to spend big to try and make a legitimate play-off run, now that the top six has been expanded to include two more teams? Has there been an influx of cash from owner John Coates? Either way, it's a statement of intent, and Potters fans are excited to see what this means for the season ahead.

Jon Walters' spending admission hints at a strong foundation at Stoke City once more

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Somewhat ironically, two years ago, Stoke's new sporting director, Jon Walters, stated, via the Sentinel, that throwing £10 million at one player would not be the way to fix the Potters' decline.

After finishing 18th and 17th in the last two seasons, they've gone and thrown £10 million at one player in Galbraith, and while there's no doubting the 25-year-old's quality, people have been wondering why Stoke have decided that now is the time to do so.

In the same interview two years ago, Walters said: "Now I'm inside the building, it's my job to change [the standards] and raise them back to where they should be. It should be Premier League standards.

"We've got the best owners in the country, and they will back it. But we've got to build it properly. You can't just come in and click your fingers. You can't just throw £10 million at a player. That would be great, but what happens if that player gets injured or if he goes in a year, and you've sacrificed investment in other areas?

"You've got to lay the foundations properly. A cardboard house will fall down. We've got to get the right people, and you've got to get the hunger from the people who want to drive it. [...] It won't just happen overnight, and we won't go from A to B and success straight away.

"There will be setbacks, but as long as we've got the right environment, and the right people across the club, then we will be in a good position."

So, the focus over the last two years from Stoke's sporting director has been to get the right people at the club and lay down the foundations for success, even if that hasn't been seen on the field in the interim.

Now they've spent an eight-figure fee on Galbraith, perhaps that's now the indication that those foundations are right, and now Stoke can make a real fist at trying to get back into the Premier League.

Stoke City are heading into a new era filled with optimism

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It does feel like Stoke are heading into a new era this summer.

From tying down Viktor Johanssen at the start of the off-season, despite there being bound to be interest from clubs higher up the division and perhaps even the Premier League, to signing a highly-rated midfielder for an eight-figure fee, things are looking bright on the field.

Plus, the new crest being deployed at the bet365 Stadium-based club this summer ahead of next season quite literally marks a new period at the club.

The higher-ups at Stoke will be hoping that this new direction and newfound intent in the transfer market can translate to success on the field under Mark Robins throughout the 2026/27 campaign, as the Potters strive for not only their first top-half finish since their second-tier return, but also their first play-off finish, too.

The off-field movements are doing a lot to excite the fanbase in the interim, and those Potters supporters are looking forward to seeing how the campaign unfolds, arguably for the first time in some years.