Former Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington has warned manager Mark Hughes against selling his best players.

Asmir Begovic, Steven Nzonzi and Jon Walters could all follow Robert Huth, now of Leicester City, out of the Brit.

"There has always been a strong core of players at Stoke," Etherington told The Sentinel, "and the manager has to be careful. You don't want to be getting rid of too many players from the core at the same time and clearly there is a danger of that. God forbid Stoke go on a bad run at any time next season, but if they do, it's players like these you would look towards to turn things round.

"I know new players will come in and replace them if they go, but will they be of the same character and reliability? That's what the manager has to aim for, but I'm sure he knows this."