Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has confirmed Oussama Assaidi is returning to Liverpool.

Hughes now has a vacancy for a Premier League loan signing after agreeing with Liverpool and Assaidi to cut short his season-long loan.

He said: "It looks like Ossie is off to the Middle East. That will free up a loan situation for us and we will have to see if we can use it.

"Ossie was frustrated that I wasn't able to give him more game time, so this is the best thing for all concerned."