Stoke City boss Mark Hughes says they're capable of buying big in January.

Sources in France claim the Potters want to sign French central midfielder Giannelli Imbula from Porto, a deal that would smash the £12m they splashed on Inter Milan's Xherdan Shaqiri last summer.

Hughes wants to push on and said: "There's always a figure every year that I know I can spend if the right players become available.

"If they are little more expensive than we have paid in the past we are at the point where we have the ability to do that but they need to be the right players.

"We don't go in the market for the sake of it to spend this year's money and then spend next year's.

"If it's not the right player then we keep the money and see what happens in the next window.

"Obviously there's a figure where he becomes over-priced and you question if he is the right player. You can't always get great deals. Sometimes it looks on paper as if you have over-paid but if he's the right player then sometimes you are prepared to do that."