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.

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 ag

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