The 3 Stoke City players we can see leaving in January | OneFootball

FLW have picked out three Potters' players that could depart in the January window

Stoke City have a pretty thin squad as it stands, but new head-coach Narcis Pelach may want to let some of his existing players leave in the January window to be able to bring in some transfers of his own.

Pelach was not involved in any of the club's transfer dealings over the summer, as he was only appointed as head coach in September after Steven Schumacher was relieved of his duties just five games into the campaign.

As a result, the Spaniard is having to work with a squad that he has not picked to play for him, and so may want to shape the team to his liking when the opportunity arises by letting some fringe players go in the next transfer window.

With that in mind, Football League World have picked out three players that the Potters could allow to leave the club in January.

Niall Ennis

Striker Niall Ennis joined the club in the last January transfer window with Stoke struggling in front of goal, after he had shone under Schumacher during their time together at Plymouth Argyle, and had struggled to find his feet at Blackburn Rovers following a move to Ewood Park last summer.

He has also struggled for form at the bet365 Stadium though, as he netted just once in 14 league games in his first six months, and has been pushed further down the pecking order this season due to the arrival of the likes of Tom Cannon and Sam Gallagher, and the emergence of youngster Emre Tezgel.

The 25-year-old was linked with moves to League One sides Barnsley and Wrexham late on in the summer window, but a move never materialised, and he has now been consigned to rarely making the matchday squad ahead of a surely inevitable departure in January, either on loan or on a permanent deal.

Ben Pearson

Big things were expected of Ben Pearson last season after he became a permanent Stoke player last summer following a successful loan spell in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, but the last year has not gone to plan for him at all.

He was a consistent starter under Alex Neil, but then appeared in just nine of the next 26 under Schumacher and was sent off for a second yellow card after he had come on from the bench away at Leeds in March, in a move that summed up his time under the former Plymouth boss.

The 29-year-old limped out of a 3-0 home loss to Norwich with a hamstring injury in his next appearance, and did not feature in the final eight games of the season before it was announced that he was set to undergo surgery in the off-season and miss the start of this campaign.

He has remained sidelined ever since, and suffered a setback in his recovery last month, meaning he may only be available to play just before the January window opens, which would give him little time to force his way into Pelach's thinking.

As a result, the head-coach will surely want to let him leave when possible to build up his fitness on loan elsewhere, especially given Stoke's depth in defensive midfield, and the fact that Pearson will likely not suit his style of play.

Jaden Dixon

Stoke have a good track record of developing young centre-back talents signed from different youth teams, and Jaden Dixon looks to be following a similar path after he was signed from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, in a surprise move by Spurs to let him leave despite being so highly-rated.

There has been a clear pathway for the 17-year-old so far, after he regularly trained with the first-team and made the senior bench for the first time at Leicester City last October, and he has stepped up even further this season to make his first professional appearances in the EFL Cup, as well as featuring from the bench in the Championship, but is likely to see more trusted senior players preferred over him under Pelach going forward.

Dixon has been filling in at right-back for the first-team since breaking through, but is a centre-back by trade and would surely prefer consistent minutes in that position at senior level to keep his development going, and not slow it down by staying in the under-21 side for the majority of the season.

With that said, a first loan exit of his career seems probable in January, even at such a young age, most likely to a League Two side that needs reinforcements at the back.