Stoke City: Steven Schumacher will surely be open to offloading midfielder – View
Lewis Baker has played a bit-part role for the Potters this season and may be set to move on this summer
Baker’s influence at Stoke has diminished recently as other midfielders are preferred under new management.
Baker, previously linked with a transfer, may be leaving Stoke this summer as the club looks for younger options.
Stoke could capitalise on selling Baker this summer to bring in younger talent, despite his past contributions to the team.
Lewis Baker has been one of Stoke City’s most influential players since his arrival from Chelsea in January 2022.
He made just two first-team appearances in eight years at his boyhood club, amid eight loan spells, most notably with Vitesse, Reading and Trabzonspor.
He finally made a permanent move away from West London at 26 in 2022 – joining Stoke on a two-and-a-half year contract under then-boss Michael O’Neill.
Baker has since played 90 games for the club, scoring 19 goals from central midfield and consistently displaying his qualities, while Stoke have struggled to move up the table under three different managers since his arrival.
His influence has waned this season though, particularly since Steven Schumacher’s appointment, with other midfielders preferred in this season’s run-in that eventually saw the Potters stave off relegation in the Championship.
With one year left on his contract as he approaches 30-years-old, Schumacher could look to move him on in favour of bringing in a midfielder that he wants to use, as well as being able to sell him for some money before he is available for free next summer.
Baker has enjoyed his time at Stoke
Baker had not had a permanent club that appreciated his talents before he joined Stoke, after being stuck in the Chelsea loan-cycle for years and never being able to settle with one team.
He scored a stunning strike on his full debut for the Potters in a 3-2 defeat to Fulham, as he slotted straight into O’Neill’s midfield alongside Joe Allen and Sam Clucas.
O’Neill kept him in his side as he played the full 90 minutes in 18 of the last 20 league games of the season, and repaid his faith by netting seven more goals and notching two assists.
It was a superb start to life in the Potteries for Baker, and he was named club captain by O’Neill ahead of the 2022/23 campaign just weeks after signing a new three-year contract that removed a £1.5 million buy-out clause.
The season did not go as planned for the Potters though, as O’Neill was sacked and replaced by Alex Neil in August, and the club finished 16th in the Championship, with Baker making 48 appearances and scoring eight goals in all competitions.
Baker played all but 46 minutes of the club’s first 28 league games that season, but started just two of the final 18 as he fell out of favour under Neil and struggled to usurp an in-form midfield trio of Ben Pearson, Josh Laurent and Will Smallbone.
