Stoke City are using the loan market to add a sprinkle of quality that is difficult to bring in permanently at this stage in the club’s cycle, says Jon Walters.
Ash Phillips, aged 19, has today become the third loan signing of the summer as he signed up from Spurs. Forward Lewis Koumas, aged 18, has already joined from Liverpool while Andrew Moran, aged 20, has arrived from Brighton.
It has been seen as an important part of squad building and is intended to complement the Championship experience brought in via Ben Gibson, Sam Gallagher and Viktor Johansson or the signings of Eric Bocat and Bosun Lawal, who are playing in the division for the first time, as well as the players already in the building who are mostly just 12 months into their Stoke careers.
It will still be a busy final week of the window but there is hope that the ground work has been done to make sure the club pulls in the right direction over the next few months.
Walters said: “We’re conscious of the balance of the squad and the size of the squad, which were quite hefty on at the moment. If you look at players who are out injured and coming back in – and there should be a good number of players back between the September and October international breaks – we will have a large squad number. We did say last season it was too big and it becomes difficult for a head coach to manage, trying to keep everyone who is out of the team happy.
“But I think we’re in a good place with it. We’ve got some good experience and good hungry young players with huge ambitions.
“We’re quite lucky that some big clubs have trusted us with their players. We’ve got Lewis Koumas from Liverpool who has got a big future ahead of him. We’ve got Andrew Moran the same, Ash Phillips the same. We’ve got some good ones in there thanks to good links with clubs and hopefully they can add that little bit of quality that you wouldn’t normally get in our position as a club.”
He added: "We are building something here, we're not just looking at the short-term and players for the here and now that you have to go and spend ridiculous wages for and things like that. We're making long-term investments. I looked at a sheet the other day from May 2023 and there are only four players in the squad from that time who are still here, so that's a huge turnaround in players.
"There have been eight so far this window and you don't want to have a huge turnaround. We want to build something. The best thing is players who are about to just burst onto the scene or have the potential to go right to the top but can also make a huge impact in the Championship. We've got a good mix. We've got to get the balance of the squad right and having those experienced players in there as well but where we want to be as a football club is where those players want to be as well."
Centre-half Phillips came through the ranks at Blackburn and joined Tottenham last summer before spending the second half of the season on loan at Plymouth. He comes into the squad for tomorrow’s home match against West Brom (3pm).
Walters said: “We knew we were short in the centre-back position. We had Michael Rose out, we’ve got Ben Wilmot and Ben Gibson. We were waiting on Ash for a while, waiting on what Tottenham were going to do with him. We followed him last season at Plymouth, where he did really well and won young player of the year. I’ve watched him since he’s been very young at Blackburn before he went to Tottenham.
“He’s got a big future ahead of him and we’re happy that he’s chosen to select us rather than a few clubs that were in for him.”