The Stoke City manager is keen to bring the winger back to the Britannia Stadium, where he impressed on loan over 2013-14, but says that the ball is in the Reds’ court

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is still hopeful of securing the services of Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi on a permanent basis.

The Moroccan spent last season on loan at the Britannia Stadium and enjoyed a relatively impressive campaign, the highlight of which came when he scored a spectcular goal to give his side a 3-2 win over Chelsea in December.

Hughes is keen to add another winger to his ranks but reports suggest that a move for Assaidi has stalled due to issues over fitness and the club’s finances.

“We are where we are on that one,” the Potters boss told The Sentinel. “Ideally, if we can do something then, yes, we will.

“He’s someone we know and someone we know can have an impact so, yes, we would like to see if something can be done with Ossie but obviously he isn’t our player and that means the ball is in Liverpool’s court.”

Hughes is pleased with Stoke’s business so far this summer, which has seen them bring in Mame Biram Diouf, Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell and Dionatan Teixeira, though the former Manchester City and Fulham boss is eager to make further additions before the start of the new season.

“People are coming back from the World Cup so things can move on quite quickly,” he added.

“We are still keen to add to the squad if the right quality at the right price is available but we are in a good place because of the early work already done.”

The Croatia international has declared that his “head is already at” Anfield, with the Reds hopeful of signing him, but he has now met up with Ronald Koeman’s squad in Belgium

Dejan Lovren has travelled with Southampton to Belgium for their pre-season tour despite his assertion that he wants to join Liverpool.

The Croatia defender has declared that “my head is already at Liverpool”, comments that did not please the Saints’ new manager, Ronald Koeman, but the former Feyenoord boss noted on Friday that the 25-year-old is a key player and that he was expecting him to join the squad for the trip even if he could yet leave.

Goal understands that the Reds are close to agreeing a deal to sign the centre-back but Koeman asserted his authority to bring Lovren to Belgium all the same.

“That [public comment about Liverpool] was not a good thing on his side,” the Saints manager told reporters on Friday.

“I spoke two times to Dejan. He was very clear about his situation. I said: ‘Okay, I am the new manager, I want to keep all the players’.

“I would like to keep Dejan in the team because he is an important player in an important position in the team. He has to come back on Sunday.”

And that he did, with Southampton posting a photo of him travelling to Belgium on the club’s official Twitter account on Sunday.

Southampton have already sold England trio Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert since the season ended but Koeman has brought in winger Dusan Tadic and forward Graziano Pelle from Twente and Feyenoord, respectively.

The 18-year-old made four appearances in all for Paris Saint-Germain before moving to the Italian giants and says he rejected offers from London, Munich and Merseyside

Kingsley Coman claims he rejected offers from Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool before joining Juventus.

Coman completed his move to Italy from Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week, signing a five-year deal with the Serie A champions.

And the 18-year-old claims he had a number of offers from England – as well as Germany and France – before he eventually opted to move to Antonio Conte’s side.

“Juventus has a history with French players,” he told L’Equipe.

“Some of them did very good. So I told myself, why not me? I thought about it a lot. I had to take a decision regarding PSG.

“Then there was Arsenal, Liverpool, Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Bordeaux. I’ve hesitated a lot about Bordeaux and I talked with Willy Sagnol, I knew him from the France Under-21 team and he promised me playing time.

“But this process came a little too late and I was already thinking about Juve.”

Coman made his PSG debut aged 16 – which saw him become the club’s youngest ever player – and went on to make four appearances in all for the French giants.