Mark Robins has now been able to call upon all-but two of his 23-man Stoke City senior squad after Million Manhoef and Jordan Thompson returned to the party at the weekend.
Manhoef had been missing since mid-December with a knee injury before he came off the bench to help seal a 3-1 win over Swansea on Saturday while Thompson, who has undergone hernia surgery, hadn’t started a game since October before he filled in at left-back.
Eric Bocat, who suffered a calf injury in the warm-up to Robins’ first game as manager back in early January against Plymouth, is yet to be available under Robins but is close to a comeback while Ryan Mmaee is still recovering from a hamstring injury he picked up before his return from loan at Rapid Vienna.
There are other senior players whose game time has been limited by injury under Robins, including Sam Gallagher, Lynden Gooch and Ben Wilmot while Enda Stevens has missed the last two games, Andre Vidigal has been on the fringes and Frank Fielding has stayed on the sidelines. Ben Pearson has just made his first start in 11 months.
There are also 31 contracted players aged 21 and under who do not have to be listed in Stoke’s senior party submitted to the EFL after the January transfer window, which has 25 allocated spaces.
Bae Junho, Bosun Lawal, Nathan Lowe, Junior Tchamadeu and Emre Tezgel feature in that list, as well as Jaden Dixon, Favour Fawunmi, Sol Sidibe, Tommy Simkin, Freddie Anderson and Darius Lipsiuc.
Loan players count in the senior squad no matter their age. Dara McGuinness is still listed but he has left to join Finn Harps in Ireland. Charlie Warren, who plays for Felixstowe and Walton United, is also listed after a trial at Stoke in January but he didn’t sign.
Stoke City in-squad players
GOALKEEPER: Jack Bonham, Frank Fielding, Viktor Johansson
DEFENCE: Eric Bocat, Lynden Gooch, Ashley Phillips, Michael Rose, Enda Stevens, Ben Wilmot, Josh Wilson-Esbrand
MIDFIELD: Lewis Baker, Andrew Moran, Ben Pearson, Tatsuki Seko, Jordan Thompson
ATTACK: Ali Al-Hamadi, Andre Vidigal, Sam Gallagher, Lewis Koumas, Million Manhoef, Ryan Mmaee
Stoke City under-21s contracted players
GOALKEEPER : Alfie Brooks, Noah Cooper, Tommy Simkin
DEFENCE: Freddie Anderson, Luke Badley-Morgan, Josh Bickerton, Jaden Dixon, Jake Griffin, Christy Grogan, Francis Gyimah, Jaden Mears, Pijus Otegbayo, Junior Tchamadeu
MIDFIELD: Ruben Curley, Jack Griffiths, Wiktor Gromek, Gabriel Kelly, Bosun Lawal, Darius Lipsiuc, Ryan Liu, Sol Sidibe, Will Smith
ATTACK: Dean Adekoya, Bae Junho, Chinonso Chibueze, Favour Fawunmi, Rakealan Jeffers, Nikola Jojic, Nathan Lowe, Japhet Matondo, Dara McGuinness, Emre Tezgel, Adriel Walker, Harvey Watts, Charlie Warren, Kieron Willox.
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