Potters target Euro market
14 May 2008 - 13:56:09
Stoke City's director of football John Rudge has confirmed that his club are already setting their sights on new signings, following their promotion back to the top-flight.
Manager Tony Pulis has already taken in a number of games on the continent, with the Potters hierarchy aware that they face a tough task to attract the players needed to keep them in the Premier League.
Rudge told The Sentinel: "With teams still playing their domestic matches abroad over the next few weeks, this is an ideal time to be out there taking another look or possibly a first look at what could be targets.
"The foreign market is certainly an avenue we must look at.
"Even if (chairman) Peter Coates does push the boat out to extremes financially, players can be difficult to attract because they are thinking that it's odds-on they will be facing a relegation battle here.
"But even if that is the case, we have got to overcome that.
"We have got to compete against the other two clubs coming up and around half-a-dozen in the Premier League, because we want to get our foot on the next rung of the ladder."