Stoke City key men Bae Junho and Wouter Burger have been linked with Feyenoord and Tottenham Hotspur respectively
Steven Schumacher says Stoke City want, plan and expect to build the team around Bae Junho and Wouter Burger as speculation about summer departures is all-but dismissed.
Playmaker Junho, aged 20, has been in the headlines in the Netherlands amid reports that he is of interest to Feyenoord while there have been whispers in England that midfielder Burger, aged 23, is on the radar of Tottenham Hotspur.
But it would take an extraordinary bid to loosen Stoke’s grip on player of the year Junho, with hope he will be able to maintain the trajectory of his progress. Burger is also not for sale as he is tasked with proving he can be a leading midfielder in the Championship.
Schumacher said: “I’d just say to our fans that speculation is good, it shows that our players are doing something well but there’s been no bids for either of them.”
He added: “Absolutely (they are a big part of my plans), both of them are. They were brought here last summer and knew the first season was going to be a season for them to bed in and as the season went on both of those players got stronger, especially Junho. Then Wouter’s come back in brilliant condition in the off-season and his pre-season has looked really sharp.
“We want to build our team around our best players not lose them.”
Junho and Burger both started a 2-1 win for Stoke at Crewe Alexandra last night in their third friendly of the summer. There have been three signings so far – Viktor Johansson, Eric Bocat and Ben Gibson – all of whom started at Gresty Road.
There is more business to do and there will be exits for players who will need to move to secure the kind of game time they want but Stoke do not need to sell to meet Financial Fair Play constraints nor fund further arrivals.