The Potters’ FLW fan pundit isn’t sold on Steven Schumacher’s former player.
There are a lot of building blocks that need to be put in place to get Stoke City up to the level that they can be.
The Potters have one of the richest owners in the second tier, and yet they have become part of the middling pack that stocks out the Championship every season; rarely threatening to achieve much.
Occasionally, some of these teams will suffer a relegation scare, like Stoke did last season, but on the whole, City and others are the steady Eddies, nothing to play for with five games to go-type of clubs.
Steven Schumacher has the job of changing that narrative, and a successful summer window will be key to that. They have been linked with signing one of Schumacher’s former players, Mickel Miller.
TEAMtalk reported that the club are considering launching a move for the wing-back, who has been offered a new deal by Plymouth Argyle, but talks over renewed terms are said to have stalled.
Miller has also been linked with Preston North End, Portsmouth and Oxford United, who may also look to capitalise on the wavering talks, as per Football Insider.
Stoke fan’s view on Mickel Miller links
Liam Burks, Football League World’s Stoke fan pundit, thinks that the left side of the defence is an area that the Potters should look to recruit in this summer, but he doesn’t see the Argyle man as being a brilliant option to reinforce their back-line.
“I’m not a huge fan of Stoke being linked with Miller, personally,” said Birks. “We’ve had a few times when managers have had previous players and it’s not really worked out. He’s 28 and seems to be quite injury prone, if you listen to Plymouth fans.
“Left-back is certainly a place that we need at least cover in. We’ve got Enda Stevens at the moment who is no spring chicken, and he spent most of last season out injured.
“When he did play he gave us decent balance, it’s just his fitness that’s an issue. I’d like to see us sign a young understudy for him. We have been linked with Sam McCallum who was at Norwich City last season.
Mickel Miller signing would be underwhelming for Stoke
Expectations should be tempered after last season. Many outside of the bet365 stadium felt that the club had done well in the previous summer window, and their league position come the end of the campaign showed that to not quite be the case.
Stoke’s hopes for next season should be just a comfortable league finish, building on the few glimmers of hope that were present last time out. Bringing in a player like Miller wouldn’t naturally suggest that they are preparing to kick-on.
Argyle were even more deeply involved in that relegation scrap at the back end of the season than Stoke were. They needed a result on the final day of the season to secure their safety.
If City are going to try and poach players from these clubs, you’d at least want them to be the ones that made a real impact. Millers’ name isn’t one that you’d immediately associate with that.
He didn’t feature much when Schumacher guided Plymouth to the League One title two seasons ago, and, even though the volume of games that he played hugely increased last season, he didn’t make himself stand out as a player that really didn’t deserve to be in a relegation battle.
| Mickel Millers’ 23/24 Championship stats | |
|---|---|
| Apps | 34 |
| Starts | 19 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Big chances created | 3 |
| Duels won per game | 3.8 (43%) |
| Stats taken from Sofascore | |
It’s just not an exciting move; one that would make fans think ‘Hmm, I’m very intrigued to see what the team is like next season’, in a good way, at least.