Stoke City chief Tony Scholes denies they're preparing to sell Asmir Begovic to Liverpool.

The 25-year-old is on Liverpool's list of potential targets should they be faced with replacing Pepe Reina - which is far from certain - but he is by no means their first choice.

But with the rumours gathering momentum the Potters have been compelled to quash speculation.

"Asmir's agent rang me as soon as these stories surfaced," chief executive Tony Scholes told scfc.com.

"He assures me that Asmir doesn't know the Bosnian journalist and has certainly never spoken to him.

"It's complete fabrication and unfortunately it has been picked up by a paper in this country.

"It's inevitable when a manager parts company with a club that there's a period of uncertainty and erroneous newspaper reports certainly don't help matters."