There is plenty to be getting on with at Stoke City at the moment, what with another five fixtures to squeeze in before the Championship breaks up for the World Cup next month. But always in football there is an eye on the next transfer window and the chance to make improvements. In truth, Stoke might find it more difficult to find new players who are better than ones who are returning from the treatment room: Nick Powell, Josh Tymon and Harry Souttar have made four starts between them so far this season and, if they can stay fit, should make a huge difference in the second half of this term.
Neil’s transfer record at Norwich
Neil reflected that he should have been more active following relegation, putting too much faith in players who had gone up a couple of years previously. He left Carrow Road in March 2017. In his time in charge, Norwich also sold Nathan Redmond to Southampton for £10m, Bradley Johnson to Derby for £7m and Lewis Grabban to Bournemouth for £8m.
2014/15
In – Tony Andreu (midfielder, undisclosed, from Hamilton Academical); Graham Dorrans (midfielder, loan, from West Bromwich Albion)
2015/16
In – Graham Dorrans (midfielder, £3m, from West Brom), Youssouf Mulumbu (midfielder, free, from West Brom), Robbie Brady (winger, £7m, from Hull), Jake Kean (goalkeeper, free, from Blackburn), Matt Jarvis (winger, £2.5m, from West Ham), Ivo Pinto (right-back, undisclosed, from Dinamo Zagreb), Ben Godfrey (centre-back, undisclosed, from York), James Maddison (midfielder, £2.5m, from Coventry), Timm Klose (centre-back, undisclosed, from Wolfsburg), Steven Naismith (forward, undisclosed, from Everton), Andre Wisdom (right-back, loan, from Liverpool), Dieumerci Mbokani (forward, loan, from Dinamo Kyiv), Patrick Bamford (striker, loan, from Chelsea).
2016/17
In – SergiCanos (winger, £2.5m, from Liverpool), Michael McGovern (goalkeeper, free, from Hamilton), Paul Jones (goalkeeper, free, from Portsmouth), Alex Pritchard (midfielder, £8m, from Spurs), Nelson Oliveira (forward, undisclosed, from Benfica).