Aston Villa, Liverpool deals show Stoke City are right to raid Hull City: View
Lee Darnbrough has picked up some gems as head of recruitment for Hull City, and is now set to join Stoke
Stoke City makes key changes ahead of summer with recruitment shakeup, focusing on scouting outside UK.
Former Hull City head recruiter Lee Darnbrough tipped to join Potters, bringing successful transfer record.
Darnbrough’s strategy includes some hits and misses but could benefit Stoke with his contacts and experience.
Stoke City have already rung the changes ahead of Steven Schumacher’s first summer at the club.
The Potters parted ways with head of recruitment Jared Dublin on May 20th after eleven months and two eventful windows with him at the transfer helm.
Stoke placed an extra focus on scouting outside the UK under Dublin, and signed 23 players across the summer and winter windows, with some hits like Wouter Burger, Jun-Ho Bae, and Million Manhoef, but also numerous misses like Wesley, Chiquinho, and Nikola Jojic.
The former Reading head of scouting was appointed under then-technical director Ricky Martin but he was sacked in February as the Potters turned to ex-player Jon Walters to take over proceedings, meaning Dublin’s exit seemed inevitable given the likely change in transfer strategy.
Stoke are now searching for a new chief to oversee transfers alongside Schumacher and Walters, and Hull City head of recruitment Lee Darnbrough has been tipped to join the Potters by journalist Alan Nixon ahead of another huge summer as they look to finish in the top half in the Championship for the first time since relegation in 2018.
Darnbrough has been behind some key transfers and operated smartly on a modest Championship budget, which has admittedly grown in recent years, since he joined the Tigers after leaving Norwich City in 2017, so it seems a smart ploy by Stoke to bring him in.
Darnbrough has had some great deals for Hull
Hull may not have achieved major success on the pitch in the seven years since Darnbrough’s arrival, but he has still overseen some key transfers that helped the club to League One promotion and come close to the Championship play-offs last season.
Future stars Harry Wilson and Fikayo Tomori signed on loan for the club in his first summer as chief, while he brought in players like Malik Wilks, Greg Docherty, and Richard Smallwood in 2020, with all three playing key roles in the Tigers’ immediate promotion back to the Championship as League One champions in 2021.
George Honeyman, Alfie Jones, and Jacob Greaves have all been signed on his watch, and gone on to win the club’s Player of the Year award in 2021, 2023, and 2024, while Hull have frequently given younger players from higher teams a chance under Darnbrough with the likes of Regan Slater and Ryan Longman arriving from Sheffield United and Brighton, and becoming key players in years gone by.
The last two windows have been some of the most adventurous at the club in years under Darnbrough, with a smart use of the loan market as Fabio Carvalho, Tyler Morton, and Liam Delap all joined and helped Liam Rosenior’s side to finish seventh in the Championship table, just three points off the play-offs.
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