Stoke City signing Joe Allen has said that the presence of attack-minded players like Xherdan Shaqiri, Marko Arnautovic and Bojan Krkic influenced his decision to join the Potters in the summer.

The Wales international joined Mark Hughes' side in a £13million transfer from Liverpool and admitted that there once was a time where a player such as himself would never have made his way to the Potteries.

"It's pretty obvious that my type of play would not have suited Stoke years ago," Allen said.

"But the likes of Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Bojan, (Ibrahim) Afellay and (Giannelli) Imbula, players they have brought in - and others that were already there (Glenn) Whelan, Jonathan (Walters) and (Peter) Crouch - the list went on and on.

"It made it really appealing to me, and was one of the big reasons why I signed there.

"You have seen they have finished ninth three years running and they are not happy to settle for that."