Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes is hopeful of being able to tie down captain Ryan Shawcross to a new long-term contract as the defender approaches the final year of his current deal.
The 29-year-old centre back agreed a six-year term in November 2012 and talks have been on-going about extending that stay.
'When you've got important players, you want to do something sooner rather than later,' Scholes told The Sentinel.
'But that is a very simple statement about what can be a very complicated and long process.