Scholes says Stoke will be keeping an eye on the World Cup in South Africa

Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes says the club will be watching some of their transfer targets at the World Cup.

But he insists that players will not be signed solely based on the strength of their performances in South Africa.

Scholes told BBC Radio Stoke: "You won't be seeing a player who we've watched for the first time at the World Cup ending up here.

"The World Cup tends to inflate fees and I'd be surprised if there's a player there that we don't know about."

Stoke are preparing for their third consecutive season in the Premier League and have tended to leave the completion of their transfer business towards the end of the August and January windows.

Of the five players Stoke signed in the summer of 2009, only midfielder Dean Whitehead had joined in time to make his debut in the opening match of the campaign.

"In an ideal world you would get your whole squad together in advance of the players returning for pre-season training," Scholes added.

"If we can get the players we want at the right price, that would be fantastic, but I've never known the ideal world to exist yet."

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