Stoke have moved quickly to quash Premier League champions Chelsea's hopes of signing goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
The Blues enquired about the Bosnians availability after it emerged that Chelsea have only five 'home grown' players in their current squad, meaning they will be forced to name just 22 players, compared to the 25 available slots, as a minimum of eight have to be home grown.
Begovic qualifies after now Potters coach Mark O'Connor brought him over to the country, when he youth team boss at Portsmouth, at 16, giving him enough time in England as a youth to be eligible as home grown.
Various reports emerged about the Blues enquiry with a fee of between £4m and £6m banded around for a player Stoke paid £3.25m for in January, when he rejected Tottenham to join Stoke.