Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes insists they're under no pressure to sell their best players.
Captain Ryan Shawcross has been linked with Manchester City and Newcastle United.
Scholes told The Sentinel: "It comes as no surprise to me what I have read about Ryan. I don't know if there is any truth in it, but certainly we have had no contact.
"Players like him and (Stoke goalkeeper) Asmir Begovic, just to name a couple, will attract attention. That's part and parcel of being a successful football team.
"That's the way it's always going to be. It's one of the prices of doing well, but it doesn't mean you necessarily have to do business with them.
"We don't need to sell. We've been going through our situation for next year, our budgets, what is available in terms of buying players and players' wages and we are not in a position where we need to sell.
"We are looking to strengthen and move forward."
