STOKE City boss Tony Pulis has tried to calm the stormy waters between Sunderland and the Potters by trying to buy back their former captain Danny Higginbotham.
Black Cats boss Roy Keane branded Stoke "disgraceful" for their part in the collapse of goalkeeper Marton Fulop's £3m move to the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke couldn't agree to the Hungarian's personal terms and instead signed free agent Thomas Sorens
en.
But Potters boss Pulis insists no disrespect was ever intended.
He said: "The deal fell through simply because we couldn't come to an agreement with his agent on personal terms.
"These things happen in football. I cannot speak for Roy and what he does. All I will say is that I have total respect for everybody and everything at Sunderland Football Club.
"But at the end of the day, we obviously have to make decisions on players that are in the best interests of this football club."
Stoke and Sunderland have had a friendly relationship up until now as Wearside chairman Niall Quinn and chief executive Peter Walker have brokered five transfers between the clubs in less than two years, with Higginbotham coming to Wearside last summer while Liam Lawrence and Rory Delap joined the Potters permanently and Stephen Wright and Fulop had loan spells.
Pulis remains an admirer of Higginbotham, who left Stoke for £3m last summer, and has also been linked with an interest in Dean Whitehead.
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