Stoke City chairman Peter Coates: 'We can compete with the world's top teams'

Growing revenue from Premier League television rights has allowed Stoke City to compete with the biggest clubs in the transfer market, according to chairman Peter Coates.

Stoke has signed nine first-team players so far in the summer window, most notably setting a new club transfer record with the £12-million purchase of Xherdan Shaqiri.

"If Stoke City can stay up we get, roughly, an extra £40 million - that's a huge chunk of money. ... We can compete with the world's top teams," Coates told BBC Radio Stoke.

The Potters' summer business has also seen Ibrahim Afellay join for free. Afellay, Shaqiri, Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic, and Marc Muniesa give Stoke a greater tally of Champions League winners than any other team in the Premier League - more than Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal combined.

"If we can get the best players - they tend to follow the money - it shows you what a powerful league it is. It's a phenomena," he continued.

Domestic television rights for three seasons of the Premier League (2016-2019) were divided between Sky and BT Sport for over £5 billion. In comparison, Telefonica took domestic TV rights for this season of La Liga for around £420 million.

"There's nothing near it globally," Coates said. "It's seen in 900 million homes a week and by two billion viewers."

Stoke boss Mark Hughes will look to hand a debut to Shaqiri in the away tie at Norwich City this weekend.