Stoke City

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes: 'Xherdan Shaqiri is loving life at the club'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 02 December 2016

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes hits back at Ottmar Hitzfeld's criticism by insisting that Xherdan Shaqiri is "loving" life at the club.

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has hit back at Ottmar Hitzfeld's comments by insisting that Xherdan Shaqiri is happy at the club.

Former Bayern Munich boss Hitzfeld recently criticised Hughes's team by suggesting that they are dull to watch, and said that Shaqiri is stuck in "no man's land" at the club.

Hughes, though, believes that Hitzfeld would backtrack on his comments if he experienced a game at the bet365 Stadium.

The Potters boss also claimed that Shaqiri is more than content with where he is.

"Maybe [Hitzfeld] needs to come to the game this weekend and see the game, see the excitement of Premier League football and Stoke football," Hughes told reporters in Friday's press conference.

"He's perhaps speaking from a place where he hasn't experienced too many games at the bet365 Stadium. Shaq is loving it. Perhaps he should have spoken to him before he came out with that comment."

Shaqiri joined Stoke from Inter Milan in the summer of 2015.