Coates: Stoke want to keep Hendrie

Stoke City chairman, Peter Coates has said that the club is considering putting in a bid to keep on-loan midfielder, Lee Hendrie.

Hendrie is out of contract with Aston Villa in the summer and it is now likely that Villa manager, Martin O'Neill will be looking to get some money for the player in the January transfer window.

Coates told BBC Radio Stoke that it was probable that the Potters would be putting in a bid to sign Hendrie permanently. In response to Hendrie's remarks that he wants to play Premiership football, Coates believes that any player would say that, but added 'I'm sure he would prefer to play for Stoke City rather than sit on someone else's bench'

Stoke have already made it known that they would like to keep four other loan players - Liam Lawrence, Rory Delap (both Sunderland), Andy Griffin (Portsmouth) and Salif Diao (Liverpool).

There are also likely to be moves in the other direction with Luke Chadwick signing for Norwich City and Kevin Harper who is currently on loan at Carlisle United.

It's good to see some commitment from a Stoke City chairman at last and should please all Potters' fans. Let's hope that we are not disappointed come the end of January.

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