Stoke City should move on from Reading FC deal amid Sheffield United, Norwich City interest | OneFootball

The Potters do not need to move for Charlie Savage this month for numerous reasons

Stoke City have had a pretty slow start to the January window so far as boss Mark Robins acclimatises to his new surroundings, but a recent rumour has emerged around a potential Potters move for Reading midfielder Charlie Savage, yet that is a deal the club should avoid this month for numerous reasons.

Links between Stoke and new additions have been pretty scarce in the opening days of the window, likely due to Robins only officially being hired as manager on New Year's Day, but things are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks as the former Coventry City boss assesses the squad that he has inherited.

The Potters are currently 19th in the second-tier as it stands, sitting just four points off the relegation places, so it is clear that they need to improve their squad this month to pull away from the bottom three before May, and their transfer activity is undoubtedly set to kick in soon.

CaughtOffside recently revealed that Stoke hold an interest in signing Reading midfielder, and son of Robbie, Charlie Savage, with fellow second-tier sides Sheffield United and Norwich City also both monitoring him ahead of a possible move in the current window.

21-year-old Savage has been a standout for the Royals this season in the third-tier, yet Stoke do not need to add a player of his profile or experience to their squad right now, and there are numerous reasons as to why they should avoid his signature this month while better Championship teams also eye him up.

Charlie Savage is not the right player for Stoke or Mark Robins

Stoke's midfield has been the source of a lot of their on-pitch issues this season, with a lack of consistency in players that have been available, as well as the wrong types of players being relied on in different positions, and numerous players losing form at certain times throughout the campaign up to now.

The Potters' midfield is a very young one, similar to the rest of their team as a whole, with 23-year-old Wouter Burger and 21-year-old Andrew Moran being their two most regular appearance-makers in the middle of the park so far, while 17-year-old Sol Sidibe has also been handed ample chances to prove himself.

Not one midfielder over the age of 28 has played for the club since Josh Laurent and Lewis Baker featured in late August before their respective summer moves away, and the team simply lacks experience playing together, with just one player in Robins' first starting eleven against Plymouth Argyle that had been at the bet365 Stadium for longer than 18 months.

Savage has been playing as a box-to-box midfielder for Reading since he joined the club on a four-year contract in 2023, and while he has impressed in League One, Stoke do not particularly need new additions in that certain profile, especially given that Robins' favoured formation is a 4-2-3-1, with two traditional defensive midfielders and a number 10, rather than multiple number eights like Savage.

Baker's recent recall from his spell at Blackburn has shown that the new Potters boss wants to make adjustments to his midfield too, but his reintroduction to the squad does also mean that Stoke's midfield is quite stacked with players right now, with the likes of him, Burger, Moran, Tatsuki Seko, Bosun Lawal and Jordan Thompson all vying for places, as well as the currently injured Ben Pearson.

Savage's Reading contract and interest from other Championship sides also makes a Stoke move unlikely

Savage made the move to Reading from boyhood club Manchester United in 2023, and while the Red Devils were happy to let him leave on a permanent deal at just 20-years-old, the finer details of his switch were later disclosed, and could prove a stumbling block for a buying team that wants to take him off the Royals' hands at some point in the future.

The Athletic revealed later that year that Reading did not pay a fee for Savage, but a sell-on clause inserted into the contract guarantees United 50 percent of any future transfer, meaning that they will not want to sell him on the cheap to an interested club, and instead get the best fee possible to aid their own pressing financial concerns.

This is an issue for Stoke, who look set to focus primarily on loan additions this month amid their own concerns over PSR and financial fair play, so a move for Savage certainly seems unlikely if he is to command any sort of substantial fee.

As well as that, Sheffield United and Norwich City were the two other Championship clubs named by CaughtOffside as interested parties in the 21-year-old's services, and it is fair to admit that the Potters do not hold the same pulling power as either club right now, given their respective positions in the second-tier.

Savage moving from Reading to Stoke would make little sense for any party this month, and so a potential transfer seems very unlikely to materialise anytime soon. However, the Potters will hope that he remains at the Madejski Stadium until the summer so that they can possibly reignite their interest when they are in a better position to sign him with more time to shape their squad.