Stoke boss Tony Pulis says it’s important that Town target Danny Collins plays games at this point in his career. The 31-year-old, who this morning’s national newspapers again link with a loan move to the Blues, is amongst a number of players left out the Potters’ 25-man Premier League squad and made available for loan.
Pulis says he wants those players to get games under their belts over the next few months: "These are lads who have not been playing enough recently and so we want to get them out and playing football until Christmas. It's important for Danny Collins to be playing at his age and because he's in the Welsh squad.”
Collins, who has won 17 full caps, is in the Welsh squad for tonight’s Euro 2012 qualifier against England at Wembley and is likely to be on the bench, as he was throughout Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Montenegro. Nottingham Forest have also been linked with the former Sunderland man this summer, while Portsmouth are also believed to be in the hunt.
One player Pulis isn’t allowing to leave the Britannia Stadium, at least in the short term, is young defender Ryan Shotton, another player the Blues and other Championship clubs enquired about earlier in the summer: "Hopefully he'll get some games in the Carling Cup, then we'll see how much football time he gets when we review him at Christmas."