Stoke City have enough strength in depth in the goalkeeper department to combat the departure of Asmir Begovic, according to manager Mark Hughes.
Begovic joined Chelsea on a four-year deal on Monday, ending the Bosnia-Herzegovina international s impressive stint at the Britannia Stadium, which began when he made the switch from Portsmouth in 2010.
Jack Butland – who has spent most of his Stoke career on loan since transferring from Birmingham City in 2013 – is the favourite to take over from Begovic, although the club did sign Shay Given from Aston Villa last week.
And Hughes said: We wish Asmir well, he s moved on to the next chapter of his career after doing great things at Stoke.
We are pleased he was here for the time he was and part of a successful period for the club.
He s moved on now and we will also move on very quickly. We ve obviously brought Shay Given in and we have a handy young keeper in Jack Butland at the club and Jakob [Haugaard] has joined us as well.
So in terms of our goalkeeping department, I think we are strong and we are looking to give all the guys a chance to grab the number one shirt for Stoke City.
