Stoke City boss Mark Hughes is delighted with the current form of Xherdan Shaqiri.

Hughes, while not wanting to attract any interest from other clubs, says Shaq is worth a “hell of a lot more" than the £12 million he paid in 2015.

He said: “The criticism abroad was fierce and it's probably still out there to a lesser extent. People understand now that he's at a good Premier League club.

“One which constantly goes up against some of the top teams in Europe. When Shaq is playing well against these teams then people will think, well actually he's not doing as bad as maybe people make out.

“And he's not at as bad a club as people maybe envisaged. And that's credit to him. I think certainly when he came here, people questioned his decision to go from the likes of Bayern Munich and Milan to come to Stoke.

“People still probably question him. But he knows what he gets here. He knows the work and the support that he gets. And I think that's why he's able to perform at the level he is at the moment.

“I think he came back in the summer with a real focus on making sure he was going to have a good season. And he's sustained it. I don't think people have been questioning him, certainly no-one in these parts."