Stoke City U21 coach Glyn Hodges has urged his young players to prove themselves to manager Mark Hughes.

A half-a-dozen of the new recruits have already spent time training with Hughes's first team.

Hodges told The Sentinel: "I tell the players that I want Mark Hughes to come and ask me about them, not me going the other way.

"The manager was at Vale Park watching us, and it was their chance to make sure he was coming to me on the training ground or ringing me and saying, 'We like him, he can come and train with us'.

"If that happens then they are doing the right thing. There is a bridge to cross between the under-21s and the first team and we want them to get over it.

"We want to get them up there to train with the first team because it means a lot."