It is remarkable that only four of the 22 players who featured in Stoke’s first pre-season friendly of last summer went on to start more than one league game when the season kicked off.

It would be a surprise this time around if it wasn’t quadruple that. There will inevitably be one or two, or a couple more than that, who played at Chester but will still move on over the next month-and-a-half but the nucleus is in place.

He talks like a captain and Stoke have brought him in as a leader but it was still a surprise to see Ben Gibson run out with the armband, Josh Laurent following further back in the pack. It isn’t a final decision but he’s the man in possession.

It is obvious that Gibson is here to play a big part on and off the pitch. What happens next with Laurent is less obvious. Lewis Baker lost the armband last summer but stayed around, albeit coming back into the fore under a different manager.

Laurent is in the last year of his contract. On his day he can influence games in the Championship, a physical beast but Stoke are probably in stable enough position with their squad to weigh up what is the right decision at this stage of the transfer window.

That said, there is hope and expectation that there will be new quality still to arrive. Everyone is looking at centre-forward in particular but, for now, Emre Tezgel – who got two and might have got three – and Niall Ennis got their chance to lay down a marker.

These are only warm-up games but goals get you noticed. Tezgel has a scoring touch. There are loan suitors waiting to see if Stoke let him go out again – depending if or how soon Stoke can bring in new blood up front – and nights like this will serve him well, whatever happens.