Mark Hughes is actively looking to add to Stoke's squad this summer but thinks it will take time to land the transfer targets he is pursuing.
The Potters finished ninth in the Premier League last season, for the third campaign in a row. Hughes wants to build on that by adding to his options but has been frustrated in his efforts so far.
"We are working really hard and everybody obviously understands that it's difficult to get some deals over the line," he said, in quotes reported by the Stoke Sentinel.
"There's a lot of elements to come together, not least the players you want and their current club because they have to agree for them to leave.
"We can't really influence that, except to make offers for players, and then you have to wait for that to be accepted.
"Sometimes that takes a bit of time because other clubs haven't got all their ducks in a row, so to speak, and are not ready to have good players going out before they've got players in to compensate.
"A lot of things can muddy the waters and we've just got to be patient. We will bring new players in, without a doubt.
"The window's been open for a week, I think, so we are not too far into it. The idea is you do your business, you know exactly where you're going and everybody's in the building for the first day of preseason.
"But it doesn't happen, it never happens. There's not one club in the Premier League, or any league, that can say we've done all our business on the first day of preseason, so we are in the same boat as everybody else.
"It's very easy to buy players that nobody wants -- we're trying to buy players that other people want as well and that makes it more difficult to get them over the line."