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ESPN staff 9y

Stoke's Xherdan Shaqiri must serve one-game ban against Tottenham

A suspension will prevent new Stoke signing Xherdan Shaqiri from making his Premier League debut against Tottenham on Saturday.

Potters boss Mark Hughes was set to include the winger, but it emerged on Friday evening Shaqiri must serve a one-match suspension, picked up during his time at Inter Milan.

The suspension stems from a yellow card Shaqiri earned while playing for Inter in the Coppa Italia in February.

The news came on Friday as Stoke received international clearance for Shaqiri to join the club.

Stoke expressed disappointment that their new star signing would not play in a statement on their website:

"In accordance with FIFA regulations, the FA have no alternative but to implement the suspension of another association, but the club have expressed its disappointment that the suspension has been applied to a Premier League fixture this season rather than to a comparative cup competition fixture."

Earlier in the day, Hughes said he may have created a nice problem for himself with the squad he has assembled for this season.

Shaqiri, who joined the Potters from Inter Milan for a club-record £12 million on Tuesday, adds to an array of attackers at Stoke including fellow new recruit Ibrahim Afellay, Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Jon Walters.

Those are all options wide of or just off a central striker, with the contenders for the more advanced position being Mame Biram Diouf, Peter Odemwingie, Joselu -- another summer signing -- and Peter Crouch.

Hughes conceded making the best use of what he has and trying to keep everyone happy could prove tricky -- but it is something he is more than willing to tackle.

"The key is to increase the quality and that is undoubtedly what we have done," Hughes said. "It is never easy -- you have to get the balance right and make sure you pick the right team for the right game, which is my job.

"But what we do have now, and what we found last year to be really important, is strength in depth that maybe we haven't had in other years.

"Last year that enabled us to have the season we did, despite having a number of long-term injuries to key players, and we are going to need that strength in depth again.

"When everybody is fit, it is a little bit more difficult, because you have to try to keep everyone happy. But it's a nice problem and one I've dealt with before."

In their two seasons under Hughes Stoke have achieved their highest-ever Premier League position of ninth, then matched that a year later while securing a record top-flight points haul of 54.

Shaqiri, Afellay and Joselu are among a raft of signings the Potters have made over the summer as they bid to keep progressing this term, and Hughes said: "I think we've had a good window up to this point and we probably have done our business now -- we won't go into the market now unless something exceptional presents itself."

Stoke began their 2015-16 campaign with last Sunday's 1-0 home loss to Liverpool. Hughes felt there was plenty to be encouraged by in that performance, but is eager for his side to get off the mark this weekend against Spurs.

"It is always important to get points on the board," Hughes said. "We had two great performances against Spurs last season, beating them twice, so we'd love to replicate that again."

Although Shaqiri will not be involved, Hughes is likely to have Arnautovic back as well as defender Marc Wilson, after the pair missed the Liverpool match due to thigh and ankle problems respectively. Two other forwards -- Odemwingie (hamstring) and Bojan (knee) are not yet ready while skipper Ryan Shawcross (back) faces between two and three months out.

Information from Press Association was used in this report.

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