One out - none in for the Potters

Peter Sweeney has joined Walsall on a two month loan deal - but the Potters failed to bring anyone new into the club on the final day of loan deals before January.

Sweeney has made the short trip down the M6 to the Bescot Stadium, following in last season's footsteps of Kevin Harper in a strong sign that the 23 year old may have played his last game in a Stoke shirt.

The former Milwall player joined the Potters in 2005, just as Tony Pulis was sacked by the former Icelandic owners but has failed to make any impact on the Stoke first team, averaging only eight starts a season since then and has not managed a single start so far this time around

With his contract up this summer, it's fairly certain that if an offer came in in January the club would be unlikely to turn it down.

With the pre-Christmas loan window now closed, the club has failed to persuade West Ham boss, Alan Curbishley to release Nigel Quashie on loan. It has been widely reported that Pulis had been keen to reacquaint himself with Quashie after he signed him in 2000 whilst manager at Portsmouth.

Amazingly, the club still don't seem to have given up on signing Salif Diao. The player is a free agent, having not yet signed for any other club and could be signed at any time, but with his break from football now stretching to six months is unlikely to be match fit for many weeks even if he were to sign soon.