Saturday 18 October 2014 11:02, UK
Stoke boss Mark Hughes has issued a 'hands off' warning over Potters captain Ryan Shawcross amid reports of interest from his former club Manchester United.
There has been talk this week that United, whose youth set-up centre-back Shawcross was part of before he moved to the Britannia Stadium in 2007-08, have been looking at the 27-year-old as a potential January transfer window signing.
But at Friday's press conference to preview Sunday's home Premier League clash with Swansea, Hughes said: "I'm not sure where that originated from - I think somebody told me it might have come from America at some point.
"There's been no contact and I don't expect there to be any, and we wouldn't encourage any contact anyway.
"Ryan is very settled here, he is the captain of the club and we have no intention of allowing him to leave.
Ryan is very settled here, he is the captain of the club and we have no intention of allowing him to leave.
"He's a big part of what we want to do in the future."
Hughes also said he is keen to keep Peter Crouch, who this week expressed his desire to extend his current deal with the Potters which runs out next summer.
Crouch, 33, who like Shawcross has been left out of the England set-up for some time, has scored three goals so far this term.
When asked about the tall striker, Hughes said: "We spoke briefly. I think Peter is one of those players who is quite unique in what he offers, so you can see the attraction that other clubs maybe have in terms of bringing him to them.
"We value Peter and we would certainly like him to stay if we can come to some agreement because he does give us a different type of threat and one that opponents find really difficult to cope with.
"We are hopeful there will be some common ground and that we'll be able to progress.
"It's still very early in discussions to be honest and Peter is in quite a strong position in terms of going into the last year of his contract.
"But I sense he is really happy here, and that he enjoys the work he gets and playing with the players he has around him.
"All those things will be taken into account I'm sure when a decision is made."
Hughes expects forwards Victor Moses and Mame Biram Diouf to be available for Sunday's match but he has fresh injury concerns.
Moses, who came off with a thigh problem in the 3-1 defeat at Sunderland on October 4, and Diouf (hamstring) have both trained for the last couple of days.
However, doubtful for the Swansea match are midfielder Glenn Whelan, who picked up a knee problem playing for the Republic of Ireland, forward Marko Arnautovic who suffered a hip injury on Austria duty, and defender Robert Huth (calf problem).
On Whelan, Hughes said: "We have a big worry over Glenn unfortunately.
"He had to come off in the international match and is going for scans today just to get a real understanding of what's going on.
"He took a big bang on his leg and is in a lot of pain at the moment, so we need to get the bottom of that."
Watch Stoke v Swansea live on Sky Sports 1 at 4pm on Sunday.
