Stoke City predicted starting XI vs Ipswich Town as Alex Neil mulls options

Team news as Stoke City make the trip to Ipswich Town in the Championship

Wesley has joined Stoke City from Aston Villa.

Alex Neil has had chance to assess 17 Stoke City players, including 11 new signings and one debutant from the academy, in his first two matches of the season.

So a penny for his thoughts as he prepares to name a team to take on Ipswich Town in a different Championship challenge at Portman Road on Saturday.

Stoke’s first game, against Rotherham, was a test of the team in possession – and they had 71 per cent of the ball; the second, against West Bromwich Albion was more of a cut-and-thrust 50-50 battle. Ipswich away might be interesting, a first home game back at this level and a raucous atmosphere expected after topping the possession charts in League One.

In some respects, this was the kind of fixture which suited Stoke’s strengths last season – although not enough to pull them up the table – and the new-look class of 2023/24 will get another examination.

SMART MOVE: Stoke City has made a concrete move to sign Serbia winger as Jacob Brown replacement

Boss confirms Stoke City transfer talks with Serbia winger as Jacob Brown replacement

Transfer news from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City continue major summer rebuild

Stoke City are in talks with Serbian club FK Mladost about signing teen winger Nikola Jojic, says their sporting director Nenad Milovanovic.

Stoke have already revamped their attacking department this summer with the signings of Wesley, Ryan Mmaee, Andre Vidigal and Chiquinho but Alex Neil is expected to go back in the market as he sanctions the exit of key man Jacob Brown to Luton Town.

One player being targeted appears to be Jojic, aged 19, and reports from Serbia suggest they could cut a deal for about 1.4 million euros.

Nenad Milovanović told SportsKlub this afternoon: “It is true that we are in discussions with the representatives of Stoke City about the potential departure of Nikola Jojić … I cannot say anything more, nor is it necessary!” There are interests from two more clubs for too. I can’t say anything furthe

StokeonTrentLive understands that Stoke are also close to agreeing a deal with midfielder Josh Onomah, who has been on trial at Clayton Wood over the last couple of weeks.

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Stoke City has make transfer offer over highly rated 22-year-old player from…..

Stoke City transfer notebook with ‘concrete offer’ for midfielder, trialist impressing

Transfer news from the bet365 Stadium as Stoke City summer revolution continues

Stoke City have a ‘concrete offer’ in for Basel’s Holland under-21s ace Wouter Burger, according to reports in Switzerland.

Stoke have been circling on the highly-rated 22-year-old midfielder as Alex Neil continues his major summer rebuild and Basel supporters are braced for more exits to follow the departures of key men Andy Diouf to Lens and Zeki Amdouni to Burnley.

It has been a tough start to the season and a Europa Conference League exit to Kazakhstan side Tobol – having reached the semi-finals last year – plus two defeats in the opening three league games have not helped confidence among the fan base. Now left-back Riccardo Calafiori is wanted by AC Milan and Burger might have been waving goodbye following yesterday’s defeat at Grasshopper.

Head coach Timo Schultz told Blick: “We have to expect players to leave and some to come. But that shouldn’t stop us from winning a game at the weekend.”

Stoke still watching Honduras winger

Stoke and Anderlecht were reported to have scouts in the stands watching winger Luis Palma in the Europa Conference League.

Palma helped Aris to a 1-0 win over Ararat on Thursday which secured a 2-1 aggregate victory and third qualifying round meeting with Dynamo Kyiv.

Sportime claims that contact has been made with Aris owner Theodoros Karypides about Palma, a 23-year-old Honduras international, although it adds: “It should be emphasised that an official proposal has not yet been submitted… it is possible that will come in the next few days.”

Josh Onomah impressing on trial

The future of Josh Onomah is also likely to come to a head in the next few days.

The 26-year-old midfielder has been on trial at Clayton Wood since ending a brief stint at Preston North End in the summer and has been catching the eye with his power and technical attributes.

A former England youth player, he came through the ranks at Tottenham, had loans at Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday, and spent four seasons at Fulham.

There were also a couple of trialists playing for Stoke under-21s last week, including forward Keke Jeffers from Bradford City. They have signed Ian Kamga, a left-footed centre-back also from Bradford.

Players who have scored twice on debut

Andre Vidigal is one of only 14 players to score two or more on their league debut for Stoke – and the first since John Tudor in 1976.

He will hope, however, to have a greater impact than the gang he is joining. Only one of the previous 13 has gone on to make at least 50 league appearances for the club: David Brown, who also scored twice against Rotherham, back in 1919.

It’s only happened four times since the Second World War: Vidigal, Tudor, John Clowes in 1951 and Bert Mitchell in 1947. Only two players have started with hat-tricks, Tommy Hyslop in 1895 and George Paterson in 1925.

Two or more goal debutants

Tommy Hyslop (hat-trick) v Derby County, Stoke won 4-1 – 23/3/1895

George Paterson (hat-trick) v Middlesbrough, Stoke won 4-0 – 26/9/1925

Wilmot Turner v Derby County, Stoke won 2-1 – 5/9/1891

Arthur Brookfield v Bolton Wanderers, Stoke won 5-0 – 12/1/1895

Jack Forrest v Wolverhampton Wndrs, Stoke won 3-0 – 13/9/1902

George Jarvis v Barnsley, Stoke won 2-0 – 30/8/1919

David Brown v Rotherham United, Stoke won 3-1 – 1/11/1919

John Shirley v Fulham, Stoke won 5-1 – 12/11/1927

Billy Burns v Preston North End, Stoke won 3-1 – 2/2/1931

Jack Palethorpe v Swansea City, Stoke won 2-0 – 18/3/1933

Bert Mitchell v Middlesbrough, Stoke won 3-1 – 4/1/1947

John Clowes v Wolverhampton Wndrs, Stoke won 3-2 – 14/4/1951

John Tudor v Ipswich Town, Stoke won 2-1 – 18/9/1976

Andre Vidigal v Rotherham United, Stoke won 4-1 – 5/8/2023

Stoke’s 16-year-old debutants

Congratulations to Sol Sidibe, who joins a very select group of 16-year-olds to play for Stoke City.

Emre Tezgel holds the record as Stoke’s youngest ever player, aged 16 years and 112 days when he made his first appearance in an FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient in January last year.

The England youth striker is 18 next month and, having had a bit of a stop-start time of it last season due to injury, was showing his potential around the first team again during pre-season only to be struck down by another injury.

Alex Neil said last week: “It’ll need to be a gradual process to bring him in because he’s broken down too often. We need to build him up first before we start reintroducing him.