Stoke City have a lot of faith in their academy system nowadays, after placing a much bigger focus on youth development in recent years.
In their ten-year stint in the top-flight under Tony Pulis and Mark Hughes, the club saw very few academy players even make an appearance at the top level, let alone become a permanent fixture in the squad – the likes of Ryan Shotton, Andy Wilkinson and Carl Dickinson were some of the success stories of their time.
There has been a bigger onus on bringing players through the academy system and into the first-team since relegation to the Championship in 2018 – Harry Souttar, Nathan Collins, Tyrese Campbell and Tom Edwards have all broken into the senior side and gone on to become regulars at Premier League or Championship level, with Souttar and Collins both fetching sizable fees when sold on to Leicester City and Burnley respectively.
As is the nature of football nowadays, particularly in the EFL, clubs must try to identify youngsters that they feel have the potential to consolidate themselves in their first-team and hopefully save them a lot on fees for incoming players.
Stoke are no different, and have multiple youngsters pushing to make waves in the first-team next season – here at Football League World we have identified three players that could save, and make, the Potters a lot of money in the future.
Emre Tezgel
Despite only being 18-years-old, Burton-born Emre Tezgel is a striker that has caught the eye of fans for a number of years due to his impressive goal tally in the Potters’ youth teams.
At 16, Tezgel became the youngest player to ever play for Stoke in January 2022 when he came on as a late substitute in an FA Cup victory over Leyton Orient, then he also made another appearance in the next round against Wigan Athletic before making the bench in the final league game of that season against Coventry.
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