Ex-Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham believes it will be hard for the Potters to say goodbye to goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

The Dane, 38, arrived at the Britannia Stadium in 2008 and has made 129 appearances for the Staffordshire club but is set to retire at the end of the season.

Former teammate Higginbotham wrote in his column for the Stoke Sentinel that Sorensen will be sorely missed on the training grounds and in the dressing room.

'It will be a sad day when Thomas Sorensen leaves at the end of this season after seven years,' wrote Higginbotham.

'He was a big signing straight after promotion because he brought the kind of Premier League experience we needed in the Stoke dressing room.

'You have to get the spine of your team right, especially in your early days in the top flight, and he was a massive part of our defensive unit.

'He offered great guidance from behind and will have played his part in helping the likes of Ryan Shawcross to progress to where he is today.

'Thomas was great to play in front of, even if, like a lot of keepers, he could occasionally go off on one.

'When that happens, as a defender you just nod and let them get on with it, particularly if they slip into their own language and you don't understand it all.

'Goalkeepers are indeed a strange lot and a breed apart, but in fairness they have to be if they're going spend their working lives standing in the way of balls being smashed at their face.'