Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has issued a hands-off warning for Joe Allen amid speculation linking West Ham with a bid.
Questioned about the Hammers link in his press conference Hughes said: “It is the first I have heard of that, but it wouldn’t surprise me because he has been impressive this year.We can’t afford to lose a player of Joe’s quality – he is working exceptionally hard for us and we are really pleased with what he is producing for us at the moment. We won’t be encouraging any bids for any of our key players, especially not in January, that is for certain. There is nothing definite at the moment, but it is clear that we are too stretched and ideally we would like to rectify that,” he added.
“We all know that January isn’t the ideal time to get deals done, but there are opportunities and we would like to be active – we feel there are areas that we need to strengthen.”
