Stoke City will not break their wage structure to keep hold of players.

Potters chief Tony Scholes added that while the club want to keep hold of their best players, Stoke will not be held to ransom over players' contract demands.

"We've got to find a balance with these things," he said. "We'd always like to give players whatever they want to keep them at the club, but some clubs have gone down that route and it's not led to a good end.

"It's our job to make sure that we reward people appropriately, but also that we don't get carried away."