Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has revealed that he hopes to keep midfielder Stephen Ireland at the club beyond the summer.

The 27-year-old will come to the end of his current deal when the season finishes, but Hughes believes that the midfielder deserves fresh terms.

"Stephen is somebody that we are hoping to keep here beyond the end of this season," Goal.com quotes Hughes as saying. "I have already spoken to him about that and the feedback that I have got is that he is very much open to that idea too.

"He hasn't featured as regularly as he would have liked recently, but that is more down to the form of other players in his position.

"He is a player that I have a great fondness for, he is a very good person to have around the place and we see on a daily basis the undoubted qualities he has in his locker."

After a loan stint at the Britannia from Aston Villa, Ireland made his move permanent in January.