Premier League side Stoke City are hoping to get more players into the team before the league begins next week.
The top flight side are asking for a little faith from supporters who are expecting to see new faces.
Coach Mark Hughes is hoping to add three players after acquiring Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea, and Darren Fletcher on a free deal. Josh Tymon, 18, is also to join. The Potters are keen on getting their targets at the right price. The progress has been slow but Hughes remains hopeful ahead of their clash with Everton in the league next week.
“We are hopeful in that regard, ideally that would be the case. Transfers have a natural life in terms of how long it takes and we can’t affect that unfortunately,” the tactician explained.
The club left out ten first team stars at home ahead of their penultimate pre-season game against St Pauli. They played the club in Germany on Tuesday and Hughes saw it as an opportunity to make changes. He made 11 changes to the team that defeated Bolton 2-1 but they lost 4-2 to St Pauli.
Hughes said there were so guys that needed more game time like Peter Crouch, Joselu, Charlie Adam, Lee Grant and Philipp Wollschield.
Visibly missing players in the setup include Ryan Shawcross, Glen Johnson, Geoff Cameroon, Joe Allen, Erik Pieters, Jack Butland, SaidoBerhino and XherdanShaqiri.
The team flew back to England after their game but they would return to play RB Leipzig on Saturday in their final warm up match.