However, club insist that player will only depart for the right price.
Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has admitted that in-demand keeper Asmir Begovic can leave the club this summer if a suitable offer comes in for the highly-rated shot stopper, reports the Daily Star.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina international has been at the Britannia stadium for three years now, having signed for Stoke from Portsmouth on a four-and-a-half-year contract for just £3.25 million in Feb 2010.
And it is fair to say that in the intervening three-year period the 25-year-old has proved himself to be one of the Premier League’s most consistent and impressive goalkeepers, so much so that the likes of both top-flight champions Manchester United and Liverpool are said to be keen to recruit the player when the summer transfer window finally opens once again on July 1.
Begovic, who is contracted to Stoke until June 30 2016, has played in 103 matches for the club, including 93 in the Premier League, and is expected to cost £15m to purchase, although Coates is insistent that the Potters want to keep hold of the Bosnian for next season.
“We feel we’ve got as good a goalkeeper as any in the Premier League in Asmir. He’s better than nearly everyone I can think of and players like that will be in demand,” said Coates.
“He’s very ambitious and wants to do well and I don’t think a football club can stand in the way of Manchester United and that ilk. If they come in for him and the money is OK for us, we would do it.
“Asmir might get approached and we might feel he should be let go.
“We’d be very happy with him playing in goal for us next season. In football, you never know, but there’s no pressure to sell.
“We took Jack Butland because we thought at some point Begovic leaving might happen. If that happens, we have a good young goalkeeper waiting in the wings.”
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