Stoke forward Peter Odemwingie will not be the last senior player to exit the Potters as boss Mark Hughes continues upgrading of the squad.

The 34-year-old has played just eight times this season was not going to have his contract renewed in the summer so Hughes felt it best he left now.

"Peter is a case in point. He was as far away from the first XI as he had been for some time and opportunities here from now until the end of the season would be few and far between," said Hughes.

"We let him go because we couldn't give him the opportunities he felt his talent deserved and I was in agreement with that.

"It is not easy to keep senior players happy and if you can't even get them on the pitch and they are sat in the stand it becomes more of a problem.

"But if you have the opportunity to get good players in you have to get them into your club.

"At some point there will be good players in their own right who will have leave to make room for players coming in."

"Players that have ambitions to go to the top clubs may find themselves without options and set their sights differently and you find very good players become available to you," added Hughes.

"Those players have a desire to come to the Premier League and we can benefit from that as other teams become viable options.

"We will always be in the market for players who can take you to the next level."