Pre-season training is in full swing at Clayton Wood, with the Stoke City players having undergone a tough day of testing before being let lose on the grass.

But while his staff crack the whip ahead of a pre-season trip to Dublin and a series of warm-up games, Potters head coach Steve Schumacher has other irons in the fire – namely adding to the three player he has already brought in this summer.

Left-back Eric Bocat, centre-half Ben Gibson and goalkeeper Viktor Johansson have all been recruited as the new Stoke hierarchy address some of the limitations of last season’s squad.

The latest player to be linked is Crystal Palace winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi. According to Sun transfer specialist Alan Nixon, Stoke have already inquired about loaning the 21-year-old, but face serious competition. Relegated Luton, Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers and Blackburn Rovers have all been credited with an interest in the player. He missed a large part of last season with a hamstring injury, but did break into the Palace squad. However, he now seems destined for a loan away from Selhurst Park.

Defender David Okagbue has become the second Stoke City player in as many days to leave the club for League Two Walsall. The 20-year-old spent last season on loan at the Bescot after joining the Potters in 2020.

An agreement over compensation allowed the move to be completed, and Okagbue told the Saddlers’ official website: “It was a really easy decision for me. All throughout the off-season, all I could think of was I wanted to come here and I am happy that it got done in the end.”

kagbue, who featured 64 times for Stoke’s youth sides during his time at the club, follows goalkeeper Tommy Simkin to the Bescot. The promising England youth international, who hails from Walsall, made the move earlier this week.