Nathan Jones has claimed that he has already made decisions on the futures of a number of players currently out on loan from Stoke City.

Defenders Erik Pieters and Kevin Wimmer left for the French and German top flights with Amiens and Hannover respectively, while Badou Ndiaye returned to Galatasaray in the summer just eight months after arriving. Elsewhere Gianelli Imbula is currently plying his trade in Spain with Rayo Vallecano.

Speaking about the futures of the quartet, Jones told the Stoke Sentinel that some will be leaving on a permanent basis when the window opens.

"There’s some that won’t be returning to the football club and it would be wrong to say names, but as a club we’ve identified those we won’t be moving forward with."

Of the four, only Pieters was sent out on loan by Jones, with the other three having left last summer when previous manager Gary Rowett was in charge.

And, Jones admitted that there could still be a chance for some of The Potters' exiles to force their way back into his plans.

"It will be: `Look, this is how I’m going to move forward, these are the players that we would like to move forward'.

"If there’s a possibility that we might take one or two of those forward with us, we might take one or two of those forward, but there’s a lot of variables."

Jones has recently claimed that he is planning a significant overhaul of his squad when the transfer window reopens in the summer.

The Verdict

It appears that we are starting to see the first signs of the much discussed summer overhaul at Stoke here.

It is perhaps unsurprising that this on loan quartet are among the first to find themselves in the firing line, given many have struggled to either make their mark or get many opportunities at the club.

This is a start for Stoke and it's sure to be a very busy summer.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.