Stoke City looking to raid Reading FC for key figure | OneFootball

After five consecutive seasons of mid-table finishes in the Championship, Stoke City are perhaps hoping that it will be sixth time lucky when it comes to making a return to the Premier League.

Many managers have had a try, including Gary Rowett, Nathan Jones and Michael O'Neill, but since August 2022 it has been the job of Alex Neil to try and get the Potters into either the top six or the automatic promotion spots.

There has been significant changes since Neil's appointment as head coach though to replace O'Neill - all of which could improve the club for the better.

A new technical director has been appointed in Ricky Martin, who had previously worked with Neil at Norwich City, with head of football operations Andrew Cousins exiting and moving to Chelsea following the end of his gardening leave.

The majority of the club's debts have also been wiped out, meaning that they are in a better position when it comes to Financial Fair Play and their position in the transfer market will also be strengthened.

Stoke have not had a head of recruitment since Alex Aldridge departed in 2022 and West Brom's Ian Pearce was targeted recently, but it looks as though the Staffordshire outfit have another name in mind to fill the vacancy.

Stoke set to appoint Jared Dublin as new head of recruitment

According to a report from TEAMtalk, the Potters look set to add an important figure to their backroom staff in the form of Jared Dublin.

Dublin, who is Reading FC's head of scouting, is wanted at the Bet365 Stadium to be the club's new head of recruitment, which will help Neil bring new players to the Bet365 Stadium and would work alongside technical director Martin - they are in advanced talks with Dublin to bring him to the club.

Who is Jared Dublin?

Dublin has certainly had an interesting road into the world of football, with his LinkedIn account stating he achieved a degree in Sociology in the United States and also one in Football Industries in the UK.

After working for SoftLayer and Google, Dublin finally got into football in 2017 when he was appointed a recruitment analyst and first team scout with Sheffield United - then a Championship club.

Dublin's work at Bramall Lane led to him becoming chief scout at the Blades in 2019 when they were promoted to the Premier League, but in early 2023 he swapped South Yorkshire for Berkshire when Reading appointed him as their head of scouting.

He is set to last just four months though at the Select Car Leasing Stadium as Stoke look to appoint the 31-year-old to an important role as they aim to rebuild ahead of the 2023-24 season.