The 2021/22 season has undoubtedly been a hugely disappointing one for Stoke City.

Despite early expectations of a push for promotion back to the Premier League, the Potters have yet to really get anywhere close to the consistency needed to secure a return to the top-flight.

As a result, the Potters now sit 14th in the second-tier standings, eight points adrift of the play-off places with just three games of the season remaining.

With that in mind, it seems almost certain that Michael O'Neill's side are now facing another campaign in the Championship next time around.

But is that position in the current second-tier standings a fair reflection on the investment that Stoke have put into their side recently?

Here, in order to find out, we've taken a look at how the cost of Stoke's squad compares to those they have been competing with in the Championship this season, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

As per Maguire, Stoke's squad currently costs around £145.4million, and that is not good reading for the Potters when compared with the Championship table as things stand.

Although the club are 14th in the actual standings, Stoke are third across the whole Championship when it comes to the amount of money they have put into their squad.

Indeed, only already promoted Fulham, and Bournemouth - who sit second in the table and look well set to secure an automatic promotion place as well - have spent more on the squad than the Potters.

As a result, there are currently 11 teams above Stoke in the Championship table, who have spent less on their playing staff than the Staffordshire club.

Among those are Huddersfield Town, who secured their place in this season's place play-offs on Friday night, while having 8.5 times less on the squad than the Potters have.

Meanwhile, Luton Town also look well set to claim a top six spot this season, despite their squad costing just £3.4million, which is just less than 2.5% of the funds that Stoke have put into their own current set of players.

The likes of Millwall and Coventry are also well ahead of Stoke in the play-off race, despite having put just a fraction of what Stoke have invested into their own squads in the current climate.

As a result, it seems clear that Stoke have badly underperformed this season, so it is hard not to get the feeling that pressure is mounting around the club, and will only get worse the longer it takes for things to improve, not least on O'Neill himself.