Mark Robins ‘over the moon’ with Stoke City’s latest signing after beating Birmingham City to Premier League ace

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Stoke City are taking steps to avoid being in another relegation battle this season, with their latest signing really putting a smile on Mark Robins’ face.

The Potters were lucky to survive last season, after getting tangled up in one of the most thrilling relegation battles in the modern era.

An 18th place finish, just two points above the drop zone, is obviously not good enough for Mark Robins and his Stoke side. They’ll expect much improvement in the coming campaign.

We’ve not seen many Stoke City signings through the door yet this summer, but Robins has just added one Premier League talent to his ranks that he’s very pleased with.

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Stoke City land Ashley Phillips on loan again

After a successful loan spell with the Potters last season, Ashley Phillips has opted to rejoin Stoke for the season ahead. The Spurs defender was thought to be wanted by promotion hopefuls Birmingham City and Sheffield United, but opted to work with Robins again.

Upon confirming the signing, Robins said: “He was brilliant for us last season. I spoke with him while we were away in Spain and Jon Walters has been working really hard behind the scenes on that and thankfully he’s got it over the line.

“We’re over the moon. We’ve got another centre-half in the building and that gives us four really good Championship centre-halves to help us compete and do better this season.”

Robins was very impressed with Phillips last season, and showered the youngster with praise for his attitude and commitment to the cause.

He added: “He’d played at Plymouth but that was his first full season playing regularly in the Championship last year and what I saw was somebody who was a really good young player at Championship level already.

“At 19 then, he’s turned 20 now, he’s got that experience under his belt and he couldn’t wait to come back, which is brilliant to hear. When you’re signing players you want to know that they’re 100 per cent in it.”

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Stoke City need reinforcements if they’re to survive this season

The problem for Stoke is that their squad does feel weaker even than it was last season. They may regret selling Wout Burger and Sol Sidibe, especially for such low transfer fees.

It does appear Lamine Camara will come into the midfield, with a deal for the Senegal starlet thought to be close. But, he’s obviously nowhere near the level of Burger.

Likewise, the impending arrival of Robert Bozenik comes with some concerns. Largely, the fact that his goalscoring record is pretty poor. Stoke will be hoping he comes good in the Championship, or they could be in for another tough season.