Stoke City chairman Peter Coates admits they're in the market for a new midfielder.
The club prefers to buy British, he added, but is casting the net far and wide.
"We are not short of players," he told The Sentinel, "but we might want extra cover in certain positions.
"A player that springs to mind is Glenn Whelan. If Glenn wasn't there, that might make things difficult for us because we haven't got another player like Glenn.
"We've only got Glenn as what you might call a proper defensive midfield player.
"We've got Charlie (Adam) in there at the moment who's doing well. I thought he played particularly well in the last game against Chelsea when he showed a lot of discipline, but it's not his natural home because he's a more attacking player."