Mark Robins Delivers Verdict On Stoke City’s First Summer Signing

Mark Robins believes that Stoke City have pulled off “a great bit of business” to bring in Sorba Thomas.

Thomas, aged 26, became the club’s first signing of the summer and first permanent signing since Mark Robins was appointed manager when he joined from Huddersfield Town earlier this month.

Robins had previously tried to sign Thomas for Coventry while Stoke had tried to sign him last summer – when the deal would have been too expensive – and in January, when it proved too complicated.

Now the winger will join up with his teammates after this week, having been given a break due to his close-season international commitments with Wales.

“We’ve managed to bring in Sorba Thomas really early, which I’m delighted with,” said Robins.

“He’s been a target for the club for some while, even before I came in, so it’s a great bit of business for us and I’m looking forward to working with him.

“James Rowberry [assistant manager] has worked with him before with Wales and I’ve seen a lot of him for both Boreham Wood and Huddersfield Town.

“He’s young, still hungry and wants to improve all the time. He crosses the ball brilliantly, his set play delivery is outstanding and he’s got a really high work ethic.”

Robins brought in two loan players in January and has since seen five loan players return to their parent clubs, released four players and sanctioned Niall Ennia’s transfer to Blackpool.

It has helped create space in the budget and changing room for incomings, with six weeks until the season starts and more than two months until deadline day.

Robins said: “Now it’s time to crack on because we’ve still got a lot of work to do. The fresh start in pre-season is always good because that’s where you get your work done. Clearly we didn’t have that last season with arriving on New Year’s Day.

“There’s work going on to get the right players in and we will strengthen in the coming weeks. That’s important so we can ensure they’re settled in the surroundings, but it’s a family club, with a really good feel around the place and we’ve certainly got the infrastructure to be able to support that process and get them settled really quickly.”