Hughes wants Bojan to stay at Stoke

Mark Hughes has stressed Bojan Krkic still has a role to play at Stoke City and is hopeful the Spanish attacker will stay put.

Bojan has been struggling for game time in the first half of the season and recent reports have suggested the 26-year-old could be on the move in the January transfer window.

Hughes, however, remains a fan of the former Barcelona man and expects him to remain at the bet365 Stadium.

“I have had a long chat with his advisers and my view is that there will be more opportunities for Bojan moving forward,” Hughes said at a news conference.

“He wants more game time, which is fair enough, but he will have opportunities.

“On some days you cannot have all your technical players in the team, or else the balance will be wrong.

“I still see him as a long term option here and a big part of what I am hoping to do.”

Bojan is likely to feature in Stoke’s FA Cup third-round tie with Wolves on Saturday, while Hughes also plans to start Ibrahim Afellay for the first time since the Dutchman’s return from a knee injury.

“It is certainly my intention to start Ibrahim and if he can come through 90 minutes then that would be fantastic,” the Stoke boss added.

“We will see how it goes though and if he does 80, 75 or even an hour, that will still be good for him.

“He was not fit enough to start on Tuesday so he missed out. He will start Saturday though.”