Stoke City told to offload experienced duo this summer

FLW’s Stoke City fan pundit weighs in on the situation surrounding Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson’s futures at the club

Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson struggled for game time at Stoke City, raising doubts about their future at the club.

Schumacher’s arrival led to Johnson and Pearson falling down the pecking order, making their departure from Stoke likely.

Stoke fan pundit Liam Birks believes both players should depart this summer, with Johnson potentially needing a mutual contract termination.

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson both struggled for game time in the latter stages of the season at Stoke City.

Steven Schumacher took them out of the team as they fought against relegation from the Championship.

The Potters ultimately earned their safety with a 17th place finish, but Pearson’s final appearance of the campaign came against Norwich City in mid-March.

Johnson was last seen in a Stoke game back in February, starting in a 3-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers.

Their futures at the Bet365 Stadium are now in doubt going into the summer, with their lack of recent game time raising questions over a potential move away from the club.

He is hopeful that a fee could be received for the 29-year-old midfielder, but has suggested a mutual termination of Johnson’s contract may be necessary to let him go.

“Ben Pearson and Daniel Johsnon were two signings that were reacted to differently by Stoke fans,” Birks told Football League World.

“The Ben Pearson signing was taken to on the whole quite well, we’d had him on loan the season before and he performed well, and we thought it was a key signing we needed.

“Daniel Johnson, there was a bit more of a grumble around the Stoke fans about that. Ageing, not that he’d performed well for Preston in the past couple of seasons, so we could see what was coming with that one, and it’s kind of a type A Stoke signing, really.

“I think we could get cash for Pearson, maybe recoup the money or lose a little bit but nothing too major.

“I would be surprised if we got money for Johnson now, I would let him go if we can mutually terminate his contract, just let him go play some football.

“They’re definitely both worth letting go, cash could definitely come in for Pearson but I think Johnson can go on his own merry way.”

Johnson signed for Stoke in 2023 but went on to make just 26 appearances in the league for the team in the league, including only 19 starts (all stats from Fbref).

The Jamaica international completely fell down the pecking order following Schumacher’s arrival, and it is unlikely he will feature much next season if he remains.

Pearson signed for Stoke mid-way through the 2022-23 campaign, arriving from Bournemouth after falling down the pecking order there.

His game time also fell off a cliff under Schumacher, and a move away from the Potters this summer wouldn’t come as a surprise as a result.

Pearson and Johnson are clearly not part of Schumacher’s first-team plans, so Stoke should look to move both of them on.

Keeping unwanted players around isn’t good for anyone at the club, and is frankly a waste of resources due to the cost of wages.

If they can get a fee for either player then that would be good business, but they shouldn’t rule out other measures to help move them on, as suggested by FLW’s Stoke fan pundit.

New technical director Jon Walters, as well as Schumacher, will have a lot of big decisions like this to make this summer to help turn things around at the club.