Fabrizio Romano has bad news for Stoke City as ‘movements’ around key man expected ‘in the next days’

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Just as things were starting to look up for Stoke City, it seems Mark Robins may have to go into the new season without one of his very best players.

When Mark Robins took over halfway through the 2024/25 campaign, Stoke City were wallowing around the bottom end of the table.

The experienced coach did get a tune out of his players at times, but inconsistency plagued the Potters and they ended up finishing just two points above the drop zone in 18th place.

However, some impressive business over the summer has seen Stoke City become a far stronger unit despite some high-profile departures. Unfortunately, though, the next player to leave may well bring the house of cards toppling down.

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Viktor Johansson expected to leave Stoke City

Viktor Johansson may be one of the best players in the Championship, but there’s a good chance he’ll not even be in the division much longer.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano, who took to Twitter/X to reveal that the Stoke goalkeeper is now ready to leave the club in the coming days and weeks.

He wrote: Viktor Johansson can leave Stoke City in the next days/weeks. Movements around the goalkeeper with Premier League clubs keen on signing him.

“West Ham considered move but now in advanced talks for Botafogo’s John, as exclusively revealed.”

It remains to be seen which other clubs, if any, will come in for Johansson, but given his form last season, there’ll no doubt be a queue of suitors waiting to snap him up.

Johansson kept 14 clean sheets in 46 games last season and was a key factor in helping Stoke stay up. Indeed, he is arguably too good for the Championship, so interest from above is no surprise.

What is surprising, though, is that Stoke are seemingly not going to stand in his way this summer.

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How do Stoke City replace Viktor Johansson?

Obviously, this departure would leave a huge hole in Stoke City’s starting XI this season.

We had thought Mark Robins had done well to keep Johansson, but now he must pull off another trick in finding a suitable replacement if and when the time comes.

That could cost Stoke a pretty penny. They’ll surely think about the likes of Sam Tickle at Wigan Athletic or Corey Addai at Stockport County, but prising them away will not be easy.

Meanwhile, there are very few free agents left on the market. Angus Gunn is wanted in Turkey, but perhaps could be tempted to stay in England.