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Two Keys to Alex Neil’s First Stoke City Transfer Window

By Jeff Brantley

STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - AUGUST 31: Alex Neil, Manager of Stoke City makes their way towards the dugout ahead of the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Swansea City at Bet365 Stadium on August 31, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - AUGUST 31: Alex Neil, Manager of Stoke City makes their way towards the dugout ahead of the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Swansea City at Bet365 Stadium on August 31, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images) /
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January’s transfer window will mark manager Alex Neil’s first with Stoke City — Which makes it all that more important for Neil and the future of Stoke City.

A manager’s first transfer window (or even two), is the most crucial of their tenure with a club. Without a successful first and second transfer window, a manager immediately puts themselves behind the proverbial eight ball.

So what should Alex Neil be looking to do this upcoming January? What defines a manager’s successful transfer window? The answers to those questions can come in different forms and shapes.

Alex Neil Needs To Put His Fingerprint on Stoke City

There’s no denying that Stoke City’s current squad isn’t fully Alex Neil’s preferred roster. After all, the entire roster was picked by another manager. Now, there’s bound to be players still on the current roster that Alex Neil really likes (otherwise he wouldn’t have bought in).

But the point remains that Neil will want to and need to start grabbing the players he feels the club needs to fit his system. Without signing the players Neil feels he needs for success, he’s only setting himself up for failure.

That’s why this January Alex Neil will need to firmly put his fingerprints all over Stoke City. Or at least start to put his fingerprints on The Potters as a club. — As it’s unsure what budget or how much Stoke City will want to spend before 2023’s Summer transfer window.

The Two Things Alex Neil Needs To Do This January

Even with possibly only a few or handful of signings, Alex Neil can still be effective with his first transfer window by doing two things:

  1. Make one big splash in January’s transfer window.
  2. Start to patch up areas of the team that are weaknesses.

Later in December we’ll get a little more deeper into specifically which players Alex Neil needs to be targeting. But for this piece, these basic overarching themes are keys to Neil’s first transfer window.

The big splash part of the transfer window is the easiest part of the equation for Alex Neil — That’s done by finding a highly sought after player and then spending the required money to land that said player.

The good news too for Alex Neil is that himself and Stoke City may already have an edge with one big name in the transfer market. That name being Hibernian center-back, Ryan Porteous.

The trickier part for Alex Neil though this upcoming transfer window will be addressing key team weaknesses. Surely Neil’s potentially big splash signing could help one weakness, but there’s bound to still be many other areas of the team that need addressing.

To do that, Neil will have to take a long look at the most dire needs of the team. Again, it’s unclear how much Stoke City will want to invest this window with a lot of teams choosing to focus on Summer transfer windows.

Which means those most dire needs will be the ones Alex Neil will have to choose first. Then Neil can focus on the rest of the team’s needs later on in the Summer of 2023.

If Alex Neil can do these two basic transfer window concepts, he can start to give himself a successful start with building the club he desires.