Stoke winger Liam Lawrence has revealed that he persuaded his former Sunderland team-mate Dean Whitehead not to join the Blues and to move to the Britannia Stadium instead.

Whitehead was part of a proposed £5 million deal with Daryl Murphy which fell through last weekend, but is now close to joining Tony Pulis's club.

Lawrence says he tried to convince the former Oxford midfielder that the Potteries is the place to be: "I said a few things which I had better not go into. I just said you want to be in the best league and this is a club going forward here at Stoke.

"I spoke to him the other day and I speak to him quite regularly. Obviously the gaffer fancies him and he asked me about him. I gave it my full backing.

"Maybe it's time he moved on from Sunderland for a new challenge. Yeah, it would be great if they thrash things out and he comes here.”

Elsewhere, midfielder Alan Quinn has again been linked with a move to Barnsley. The Tykes are said to be ready to pay £150,000 for the ex-Sheffield United and Wednesday man.

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