Football League World’s Stoke City fan pundit believes that star midfielder Wouter Burger is likely to leave the club this summer even if the Potters stay in the Championship, after he was close to joining Danish side FC Midtjylland in the January window.
Burger is approaching the end of his second season at Stoke, having joined the club from FC Basel in 2023, and he has been one of the best performers at the club over the duration of his spell so far.
The Potters have struggled in the second-tier this season, however, and could be relegated to League One soon if results do not go their way over the next few games.
Burger almost left the club at the start of the year to join Midtjylland, and his exit would surely be inevitable if they do go down, while he may still depart even if Mark Robins manages to steer Stoke to safety.
“I expect there will be interest” – Stoke City summer transfer claim made on Wouter Burger
Burger joined Stoke for a reported fee of £4.3m from Basel in August 2023, amid an influx of signings from overseas.
He enjoyed a successful first six months at the club, but then saw his performances drop off for a while before returning to form midway through this season.
He was reported to be closing in on a transfer to four-time Danish champions Midtjylland on the last day of the winter window, which came as a surprise to many supporters. Despite the deal looking advanced and all but done, Stoke’s hierarchy then stopped the move happening because they were unable to find a replacement for him in Robins’ side so late on.
Burger has since continued to impress over the last few months, and has arguably been playing some of the best football since he joined the club following his failed move.
We asked our Potters fan pundit, Daniel Buxton: ‘Are you expecting the Wouter Burger transfer saga that came to light at the end of the January transfer window with Midtjylland to potentially reignite in the summer with other clubs coming in? Is it time to cash in or not?’
“I expect there will be interest in (Wouter Burger) in the summer. We interviewed him for our podcast last season in May, and he very clearly is a man who has got his career mapped out in his head,” Buxton told FLW.
“He said to us that he came to Stoke to prove to people that he could handle the physicality of the English leagues. He said that, when scouts came to watch him, the feedback he got was that that was why clubs hadn’t taken the plunge on him.
| Burger’s 23/24 Championship stats – per FotMob | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances | Goals | Assists | Avg. match rating |
| 39 | 3 | 4 | 7.14/10 |
“I imagine there will be interest. I imagine that he thinks that two years is enough to then, maybe, start looking at moving on. If we get relegated to League One, that will be without any doubt, he will be gone. If we stay in the Championship, then there is a small hope that we can keep him, but I wouldn’t be putting any money on it, to put it that way.
“I would like to keep him. I don’t think any Stoke fans are willing him to leave at all. I do feel that, maybe with a settled side and Mark Robins in charge for a full pre-season, his form may even increase to a level where we can get a good fee for him.
“He has had a splintered season. Obviously not helped by all the off-field stuff that has been going on with the changes of managers, plus injuries.
“We probably won’t get what he is actually worth this summer, so I’d like to keep him for another 12 months, so then we get a good deal and he gets the best move as well.”
Stoke will find it hard to keep hold of Burger this summer regardless of league status
While the dust has long settled on the events surrounding Burger’s Stoke future in the January window, and he does not look to have been too irked by the situation, it’s fair to presume that he may be seeking a move away once again by the time the summer window rolls around, even if Stoke manage to avoid the drop this season.
At 24-years-old, he is already a top Championship midfielder, and would definitely thrive in a better team that is able to allow him more space and time to impact the game. He has been a real driving force in anything positive that Stoke have done since Robins was appointed in January, and so would understandably be a huge loss to the club.
Just wait for the dummy from Wouter Burger for Lewis Koumas' second goal for @stokecity 🤩#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/j2LwbrMToZ
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) February 8, 2025
The Potters will have little choice but to sell him in the summer if they do go down, and after Burger’s recent revelation to StokeonTrentLive that he was “disappointed” about being unable to join Midtjylland in January, it would not be a shock to see him push for a move in the summer window no matter the situation.
Robins and the club’s hierarchy will now have to hope that they are able to see out the campaign in a positive sense with survival achieved and Burger playing well, because if he is to leave, those factors will massively determine the kind of fee that Stoke could receive for his services.
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