Final push boosts Stoke plans

Posted Tuesday, June 02, 2015 by Foxsports.com

Stoke chairman Peter Coates believes finishing the season in the top half of the Premier League and signing off with a 6-1 thrashing of Liverpool will help them recruit new players over the summer.

Mark Hughes' side were 5-0 up at half-time of their final league game, Steven Gerrard's final Liverpool appearance before joining MLS side LA Galaxy.

Stoke are now looking to build on back-to-back top-10 Premier League finishes for the first time in the club's history and Coates is convinced their impressive end to the season will help Hughes bolster his squad.

"Ending the season in the manner that we did has certainly helped," Coates told Stoke City Player.

"The more established you are the better the quality of players that you are able to attract. We have got a number of targets but it is never easy to get them in.

"We are working on it though and hopefully we will be in a position to start the season with a stronger and better squad than we ended the last season with.

"That is obviously the objective, but for that to happen you need one or two things to fall into place.

"There are players who have been identified by the recruitment team, which Mark Hughes obviously oversees, and there are opportunities for us to maybe get one or two things done.

"Everybody wants to bring the best players available in to their club, and we are no different.

"We are looking to add to the quality we already have here."