'Shaqiri like Leo Messi'

Having joined his new teammates for his first training sessions at Stoke City, Darren Fletcher has been impressed with fellow player Shaqiri.

The Scottish midfielder believes Shaqiri's physical attributes as well as his height, the same as Messi's 5ft 5in, make him extremely hard to defend against.

'I'm not saying he's Messi but he's got that same low centre of gravity and he can get past you so he really is hard to get a handle on', Fletcher said.

'He's a fantastic footballer. You can talk about his strength and his size but the biggest thing is that his first touch is fantastic: that moves the ball and eliminates strong players, then he relies on his strength when he has to', he added.

Fletcher continued to praise the 25-year-old. 'Most of the time his first touch is that good that it's probably the difference, he's a top quality player, you can see that. He has great strength, when he receives the ball, he is sharp'.

'Things happen when he gets the ball, which is important. You need your match winners, you need your mavericks, and he's definitely one of those', he concluded.