Stoke City admit defeat in hunt for Inter attacker

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has acknowledged that Inter ace Xherdan Shaqiri is highly unlikely to be plying his trade at the Britannia Stadium this season.

The Potters had a bid accepted for the Swiss attacker but the deal fell through when it came to opening discussions with the player himself, who turned down a move to England.

Hughes was addressing the media while on his side’s pre-season tour of Singapore and on the Shaqiri situation, he said: “I went out and spoke to Shaqiri personally and we had a good chat about things. We needed to establish whether or not we could get a deal done we didn’t sense that.

“Maybe it is one that could be revisited in the future but I would say that it is probably not likely to happen. We have other targets now.”

The former Bayern Munich man, who only moved to the Serie A side in January, is now a target for fellow Premier League outfit Everton.