Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has played down talk of signing England pair Chris Smalling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Potters have been linked with Manchester United defender Smalling and Arsenal midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Hughes said: "We get linked with a lot of players. Some will be realistic, others won't be. We're in the market trying to get good players in. I can't really help you in terms of progress but we're working exceptionally hard to try to get players in who will help us and have an impact.

"We're in the same boat as a number of clubs. Some have done a lot of business and spent a lot of money but others haven't done anything.

"We've done more than more and we're still actively pursuing good players if we can."