Stoke news: Potters could lose Wilfried Bony due to clause in contract permitting sale to Chinese Super League
Manchester City insisted on the clause which will allow any side from the Chinese Super League to buy Bony outright in the New Year
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Your support makes all the difference.Stoke boss Mark Hughes has admitted that Wilfried Bony has a clause in his loan deal that allows Chinese Super League clubs to buy him in January, but he does not believe the Ivorian has any intention of leaving.
It’s believed Manchester City insisted on the clause which will allow any side from the Chinese league to buy Bony outright in the New Year.
Bony is on a season-long contract from City and has so far scored twice in 10 appearances. The Ivorian joined on deadline day after the two clubs agreed a compromise on his £125,000-a-week wages.
With City willing to listen to offers from China as they look to permanently offload the player, the Potters face the worrying prospect that their striker could be snapped up in January.
But Stoke manager Hughes expects his loanee to shun any lucrative overseas offer.
"I think that may well be true, but a lot of things have come to the fore to make that happen, not least that Wilf needs to want to go himself," Hughes said.
"I don't think he will want to,” he said. “I think he sees himself very much as a Premier League player this year and in the years to follow.
"Any thoughts of moving to other shores would be dependent on whether or not he had a desire to do that.
"Clearly, if his club thought it was a good deal they would try and influence that but I don't anticipate that happening, certainly not in January.
"There seems to be significant amounts of money being banded about (in China), but I would suggest Wilf's not too short of a few quid to be perfectly honest.
"In terms of Wilf, I think he's more focused on continuing his career in the Premier League with us, so unless he comes and knocks on my door and says he's had an offer...I'd be very surprised."
Hughes also confirmed that there was no stipulation where Stoke have agreed to pay a set fee for Bony during, or at the end of, his temporary stay.
"We're not thinking on those terms at the moment," the Welshman added.
"We're delighted that he's here until the end of the season in our view and we'll look at it again. It's not something that's in the contract, we haven't got a price that's been agreed, sometimes you can do that but that's clearly not what Man City wanted."
Bony is expected to lead the line against Watford on Sunday, but a suspension to Joe Allen and injuries have left Hughes short in the midfield department.
Glenn Whelan remains a doubt with a calf problem, Geoff Cameron is missing because of a knee issue and a problem in the same area will keep full-back Phil Bardsley out for a number of weeks.
Additional reporting by PA.
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