Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has reaffirmed the club's desire to bring Real Madrid ace Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Britannia.
The Potters have been linked with an ambitious move to bring the former Manchester United striker back to the Premier League.
Coates insists the club are serious in their attempts to land the 33-year-old, although no deal has been struck with the Bernabeu outfit.
Stoke will now be looking to establish whether the veteran marksman is keen on joining the club before getting carried away with securing his signature.
Early stage"We're at the very early stage of this. Whether something will come of this? We don't know," he told Sky Sports News .
"We're interested in pursuing it and we'll see where we can get with this.
"We're going to see if there's a way of doing a deal. You never know.
"He was a fabulous player at United. He's a terrific player. If anything can be done we'd be very keen.
Loan deal
"It could be a loan deal. The key thing is whether Ruud himself would be keen to come.
"We know we can't compete with the teams at the top financially, but we try to do things our own way.
"We're on the case. We'll make all the necessary enquires and we'll see where it leads to.
"It would be very, very exciting. He's getting older, but he's a terrific player."
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