New Stoke City boss Hughes has re-signed Jermaine Pennant just days after the 29 year old winger appeared to leave the club when his old contract expired. Stoke chairman Peter Coates confirmed: "Yes, we are expecting him to sign for us again."

He added: "He has met with Mark and we are happy for the deal to be done.

"There has been a change of management and he (Pennant) indicated he would like to stay at the club, therefore we passed that on to Mark and the upshot is he's going to sign another contract."

Pennant's girlfriend Alice Goodwin tweeted on Tuesday afternoon: "Really pleased to say Jermaine has signed a new 2 year contract with Stoke City FC!!!!xxx"