My Shaq’s having a blast says Hughes

XHERDAN SHAQIRI is having the last laugh over critics who sniped that he only went to Stoke for the money.

The Switzerland star joined the Potteries club after winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich, where legend Stefan Effenberg claimed he had been badly advised.

But Shaqiri’s performances have delighted Mark Hughes (right).

And the Stoke boss, while not wanting to attract interest from other clubs, says Shaq is worth a “hell of a lot more” than the £12million he paid Inter in 2015.

The “Alpine Messi” is back on club duty tomorrow at Brighton after playing a part in Switzerland’s slalom ride to the World

Cup which eliminated Northern Ireland.

And Hughes said: “The criticism abroad was fierce and it’s probably still out there to a lesser extent. People understand now that he’s at a good Premier League club – one which constantly goes up against some of the top teams in Europe. “When Shaq is playing well against these teams then people will think, ‘well actually he’s not doing as bad as maybe some make out.’ “And he’s not at as bad a club as people envisaged. And that’s credit to him. I think certainly when he came here, people questioned his decision to go from Bayern Munich and Milan to Stoke. “But he knows what he gets here. He knows the work and the support that he gets. And that’s why he’s able to perform at the level. “He came back in the summer with a focus on making sure he was going to have a good season.” Brighton v Stoke Tomorrow, 8pm, Sky Sports Main Event Feb 2011: Stoke 3 Brighton 0 Apr 2006: Brighton 1 Stoke 5 Nov 2005: Stoke 3 Brighton 0 Mar 2005: Stoke 2 Brighton 0 Dec 2004: Brighton 0 Stoke 1

Brighton – 9 wins Stoke – 16 wins Draws – 14