Exclusive: Stoke chief Walters eyes second summer signing with move for Fleetwood skipper ON

Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu is wanted at Stoke City

Stoke are among a number of clubs eyeing a move for highly-rated Fleetwood Town midfielder Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu in this summer’s transfer window, TEAMtalk can exclusively reveal.

Sarpong-Wiredu was one of Fleetwood’s shining lights in their disappointing season which saw them relegated from League One.

The versatile midfielder joined Fleetwood from Colchester United in 2022 and has since made 86 appearances for the club.

He is qualified to play international football for both England and Ghana at the moment.

After agreeing to a contract extension in January, Sarpong-Wiredu is committed to Fleetwood until June 2026.

He was handed the captain’s armband in late January and played most of the second half of the season at the heart of Fleetwood’s defence.

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Fleetwood face a battle to retain their skipper

Fleetwood are aware they face a battle to keep hold of their captain in the wake of relegation with several Championship and League One clubs weighing up moves for Sarpong-Wiredu.

The 24-year-old made 36 appearances in League One this season, scoring three goals and providing two assists for the Cod Army.

TEAMtalk understands that Stoke’s director of football Jon Walters is a big fan of Sarpong-Wiredu having worked with the player during his time as Fleetwood’s technical director before his move to Stoke.

It is believed that Sarpong-Wiredu is being sought after by Stoke to add a physical presence to their midfield.

Sarpong-Wiredu also offers great versatility to any manager given his ability to play centrally in midfield and defence and also as a right-sided full-back.

Walters is carrying out a major overhaul of the Stoke squad this summer following a below-par season at the bet365 Stadium and he wants to revamp the side’s midfield engine room.

Stoke survived a relegation scare this season, dismissing manager Alex Neil in December and replacing him with Steven Schumacher just over a week later.

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The Potters recruitment for next season is well underway with the club recently announcing the signing of goalkeeper Viktor Johansson from Rotherham United.

Daniel Iversen, Ki-Jana Hoever, Luke McNally, Luke Cundle and Sead Hakšabanović will return to their parent clubs following the conclusion of loan spells at Stoke City.

The Stoke City squad has been trimmed even further by the departures of Tom Edwards, D’Margio Wright-Philips, Tom Sparrow, Blondy Nna Noukeu, Ben Kershaw, Kahrel Reddin, Sonny Singh, Tom Curl and Ian Kamga. The nine released players were not offered new deals at the conclusion of the terms of their contracts.