Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has claimed that Bojan Krkic's form in pre-season has not come as a surprise this summer.

The 23-year-old has scored three goals in as many friendly matches since moving to the club from Barcelona last month, and Hughes admits that it was no more than he expected.

"You find good players are very quickly able to adapt to any environment they are in," the Potters boss told reporters after Bojan found the net in a 2-0 win over Real Betis on Wednesday. "I think that's what happened with Bojan.

"He's showing the undoubted ability that everyone knows he's got so we're really looking forward to him having an exceptional season because he has that ability."

Reports on Wednesday suggested that Stoke could be set to lose a forward, with West Bromwich Albion rumoured to be interested in signing Jonathan Walters.