Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has reiterated the fact that he wants to keep hold of star goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

With Begovic's contract at the Britannia Stadium set to expire at the end of next season, the Bosnia-Herzegovina international has been constantly linked with a move away from the club and recently it was reported that Spanish giants Real Madrid were closely monitoring his contractual situation.

Despite all the talk linking Begovic away from Stoke, Hughes insists he wants to keep hold of the 27-year old and stated that the groundwork for a new deal has already been put into place.

Hughes told reporters: "We want to be a team that's consistently in the top ten. To be able to do that you need key players in key areas of the field and obviously goalkeeper is a key position in any good team and Asmir has been exceptional for us for a long time now.

"We're talking and those talks are going to be concluded in the summer. Hopefully they are going to be concluded in our favour."