POTTERS RECRUITS MAKE IMPACT AS BOSS EYES MORE

STOKE City’s first three signings of the summer have made quick impressions in pre-season training – as work continues behind the scenes to tweak the squad. Michael O’neill has brought in Harry Clarke, Aden Flint and Josh Laurent so far, while Mario Vrancic, Alfie Doughty and Joe Allen have left and Benik Afobe yesterday secured a permanent return to Millwall, where he spent last season on loan, for an undisclosed fee.

Exits will define the scope of Stoke’s hand as they stay in the market for new blood, but the manager is happy with the deals he has been able to do so far. O’neill said: “We’ve done different types of deals. Harry Clarke is one who’s stepping up. This will be his fourth loan and every loan he’s stepped into he’s dealt with the level and he’s impressed. He’s young, 21, and athletic with good pedigree coming from Arsenal and is still an Arsenal player. We’ve seen why that is quite quickly in the early few days we’ve had him. “Aden was different. We felt when we looked at the centre-back market that we needed a little bit of that experience. You only have to watch Aden play to know he’s a winner. I always hated playing against Cardiff and seeing him in the opposition team. He gives us a real presence in both boxes - and a real presence around the club. “He’s in great condition having seen him come back and it was a really good deal for us to do, one we felt was the right one at this minute in time.

“Josh Laurent, at 27, is right at the prime of his career with real ambition to go to the next level. He’s already demonstrated that he’s more than capable of handling the Championship and again he’s another free agent that we had to fight hard to get. We got ourselves to the front of the queue and thankfully Josh made that decision to come here.”

Stoke’s home match against Middlesbrough has been moved back 24 hours to Wednesday, August 17 (7.45pm) because Middlesbrough are now playing Sheffield United on the previous Sunday.