Stoke City warned over 'inevitable' transfer interest in Potters star - Celtic FC and Leeds United were once linked | OneFootball

Million Manhoef has previously been the subject of transfer interest in recent windows

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Stoke City have moved back up to 2nd place in the EFL Championship table after a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Charlton Athletic, with a brace from Sorba Thomas and one from Dutch winger Million Manhoef giving the Potters all three points.

Stoke have returned to winning ways with a 3-0 home win over Charlton on Tuesday night after back-to-back defeats against Coventry City and Leicester City.

The Potters had more or less confirmed the outcome of the game by the fifth minute, with Thomas' whipped cross finding the top right corner to open the scoring, followed by a quick break finished off confidently by Manhoef.

Thomas would put the game to bed with a third, another cross from the left-hand side, confusing Thomas Kaminski in goal, who could not keep the ball out of the net.

Thomas and Manhoef have been manager Mark Robins' preferred choices more often than not from the flanks, with the duo having already directly contributed to 17 goals between them so far this season.

Manhoef joined Stoke in January 2024 from Dutch outfit Vitesse for a reported fee of around £3.4 million, and has been a nailed-on starter since his arrival nearly 18 months ago.

The 23-year-old has made 70 appearances across all competitions for the Potters since his arrival, scoring 16 and assisting six, including five goals and one assist this season alone.

The Dutchman is one of the Potters' most prized assets, and if he continues his good form, interest in him will be almost inevitable.

Football League World's Stoke fan pundit, Pete, has shared their views on whether Manhoef's performances may garner interest in the Dutchman sooner rather than later.

When asked whether they would be worried that the 23-year-old may attract some attention this January, Pete said, "Yes, I'm worried about him starting to attract attention and interest in January.

"Seeing the links with Celtic, I think it's one of the worrying things about doing well.

"We haven't had very much interest in any of our players. I can only really think of Nathan Collins over the last six or seven years that anyone's had any interest in.

"So, the fact we've now got a decent team, and people are sniffing around the players, I'm kind of taking it as a positive.

"I think Manhoef has got the potential to kick on. He's very one-footed, and frankly, if he'd got a right foot that was anything like his left foot, then he simply wouldn't be at Stoke, he would definitely be playing in the Premier League.

"He's sometimes very, very greedy, but his ability to go past people and, like you say, the fact that he's only 23, it's just inevitable that people are going to come and sniff around.

"I think the only thing that we can hope for is that we can hang on to him for as long as possible, and if we do end up having to sell him, then we get the absolute maximum amount for him that we can.

With January right around the corner, Stoke will have to prepare themselves for inevitable interest in some of their stars, including Manhoef.

It would not be the first time that the Dutch youth international has been the subject of interest before, with both Leeds United and Celtic having reportedly monitored the 23-year-old's situation previously.

Leeds were hunting a replacement for the outgoing Crysencio Summerville during the summer of 2024, and had registered an interest in Manhoef as well as former Norwich City winger Jonathan Rowe, but would ultimately opt to sign Largie Ramazani instead.

Even as recently as this summer, Manhoef drew interest from Scottish giants Celtic, with it being common knowledge that Stoke would have to sell this summer to buy.

However, the sales of Sol Sidibe to PSV and Wouter Burger to Hoffenheim cooled worries over the financial situation at the club, and meant that Stoke were not forced to sell any of their other star assets.