Stoke keen to keep goalkeeper at the Britannia Stadium.
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Stoke City have insisted that goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is not guaranteed to leave the club this summer despite interest from Manchester United.
Begovic’s form between the posts for Stoke City this season has caught the attention of some of the Premier League’s big names with Manchester City and Liverpool also thought to be interested in the Bosnian international goalkeeper.
It was expected that Stoke were ready to offload Begovic in the summer with Manchester United preparing a bid between £9million and £15million to sign the former Portsmouth stopper as a replacement for the under-pressure David De Gea.
The speculation about Begovic’s future followed Stoke’s purchase of young England goalkeeper Jack Butland from Birmingham City on transfer deadline day in a £4million deal.
Butland is staying at Birmingham City until the end of the season before linking up with Stoke in the summer, but the 19-year-old could yet be farmed out on loan again next season to continue his education.
“If Manchester United come in and offer an enormous amount of money or someone else does, we would have to look at it,” said Pulis told Sportinglife. “But I haven’t brought in Butland because of that.”
With Thomas Sorensen also vying with Begovic for first-team football at the Britannia Stadium, Pulis will not rush Butland into action at Stoke meaning Manchester United may yet miss out on the Bosnian in the summer.
“If it comes to next season and we’ve still got three goalkeepers and feel Jack isn’t ready, he’ll be loaned out again,” Pulis said. “There was no thought in my mind of bringing Butland in just in case Asmir went. We felt it was a fantastic opportunity. The price was unbelievable.”