Mark Robins and Jon Walters will be scouring retained lists up and down the division as they start their summer rebuild

Stoke City will have to box clever in a transfer window when financial fair play restrictions are ever present and recruitment is under the microscope.

But this summer’s wave of released players might give Mark Robins and Jon Walters a head start into a rebuild without breaking the bank, although admittedly a couple of names in the catalogue will demand sky high contracts.

Free agents often come with question marks from injury history to declining form but they can also offer opportunity: experience, versatility, and, crucially, no transfer fee.

Free agents often come with question marks from injury history to declining form but they can also offer opportunity: experience, versatility, and, crucially, no transfer fee.

The 2025 list of Championship cast-offs is stacked from title winners to seasoned internationals, from 100-cap midfielders to explosive wingers desperate for a fresh start – the kind that Tyrese Campbell found when he left Stoke 12 months ago and found a new home at Sheffield United..

The key will be getting more calculated risks right than wrong, the difference between a struggle at the bottom, mid-table drift and genuine momentum. Could a player like Grady Diangana add flair out wide? Might Emil Riis provide the goals to support an ageing but wily Jamie Vardy? Is there a place in defence for Harry Darling or a returning Axel Tuanzebe?

Not every free agent will be a fit for Mark Robins’ system and several will be chasing Premier League wages or heading abroad but this free agent XI shows what is out there. Who catches your eye and who should Stoke definitely avoid?

GK: Angus Gunn (Norwich City) – Scotland’s former Stoke loan keeper is still only 28.

RB: Cyrus Christie (Swansea City) – attacking full-back has strong Championship experience.

CB: Harry Darling (Swansea City) – decent in the air as well as on the deck and still only 25