Stoke City are 'no closer' to signing James Garner on loan from Manchester United, but they remain in the market along with several other Championship sides.
The highly-rated United academy player spent the entire 2020/2021 season in that same division.
Indeed, he featured 20 times for Watford during the first half of the campaign and finished up making a further 20 appearances for Nottingham Forest.
Garner, 20, has trained with the senior group at United throughout the summer.
However, while that has resulted in pre-season appearances under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the defensive midfielder appears destined to head out on another loan adventure - rather than initially force his way into the reckoning for Premier League outings.
Stoke are one of many Championship clubs who have been tipped to welcome him into their squad.
A similar situation has been presented to Manchester City starlet Liam Delap. However, the Potters suggest a deal has yet to be struck up for either, or both, of those talented prospects.
Speaking to StokeLive ahead of the Championship opener against Reading, Stoke manager Michael O'Neill said: "They are two very coveted young players, which I think a lot of clubs in Championship would have ideally on their wish-list.
"There are no strong developments [with either]."
O'Neill added: "As I've said previously, young players like that probably get their best opportunity at this stage to be around the first-team squad and then as the window progresses and we get closer to deadline, then the options for those players to possibly come out on loan becomes more realistic.
"The key for us is to be in the position so that if options like that become available then we are can try to present to them that Stoke is a good option for them."
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