2 players who could follow Niall Ennis out of Stoke City in January 2025 | OneFootball

FLW looks at two Potters players that may depart in the new year alongside Ennis

Stoke City are looking ahead under recently appointed head-coach Narcis Pelach, and while he was not able to affect any previous transfer dealings, he is set to get the first chance to alter his squad in the January window.

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

As a result, the Spaniard has 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.

Striker Niall Ennis is one of those who looks set to leave, with his chances at a premium in the opening stages of the campaign, and Stoke likely to bring in reinforcements to bolster their lacking attack.

The Potters have a pretty thin squad as it stands, but will still be looking to move on some players that are not set to be too important under Pelach, and with that in mind, Football League World have outlined two players that could follow Ennis out of the door in the January window.

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 earlier in the season, 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, and may even sanction a permanent exit, given 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, such as Harry Souttar and Nathan Collins, 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, and he first began to regularly train with the first-team at the start of the 2023/24 season, then made the senior bench for the first time at Leicester City last October.

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 has seen more trusted senior players preferred over him since Pelach's appointment.

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 rest 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.