Mark Hughes
Xherdan Shaqiri
13th
Peter Crouch (7)
Darren Fletcher (West Brom, free), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea, loan)
Marko Arnautovic (Stoke, £20m), Jonathan Walters (Burnley, £3m), Phil Bardsley (Burnley, £700k)
No matter the season, no matter the squad, no matter the opposition – Stoke will seemingly always finish around mid-table and fans will continue to enjoy Premier League football.
A lack of arrivals means an average squad is treading water and they could be caught, especially as their once-resiliant defence appears to be in decline.
Until his ACL in 2016, Kurt Zouma was the future of the Chelsea and France defence. Has a point to prove and will have an eye on Russia 2018.
Ahead of their 10th successive top-flight season the goal is to halt last season’s slide and rediscover their hard-to-beat mentality.
Lack goals, have lost one of their most creative players in Arnautovic and appear ripe for a relegation fight.