Hughes reluctant to sell Stoke fringe players

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes admits he doesn't want to lose any fringe players this month.

Hughes is reluctant to let any of his fringe players leave as Stoke chase success on three fronts.

They are only six points outside the Champions League places, face a Capital One Cup semi-final against Liverpool next week and hope to start an FA Cup run when they visit League One side Doncaster a week tomorrow.

Hughes said: "There's a little bit of speculation about players going out. I'm not encouraging it, to be perfectly honest.

"We've got a big period, which we're right in the middle of now, where we've got a lot of significant games, and we're going to need everybody.

"If, towards the end of the window, we think we can get game time into some of the players who haven't had much, then we might consider it.

"We know, unfortunately, that things change very quickly. You can get two or three injuries in the same position, and you become a little bit stretched.

"As always, I like the options within the squad, and if you start sending people out too early in a key period, I don't think that's the right or logical thing to do really."