The £15million-rated Bosnia goalkeeper only has a year left on his Britannia Stadium contract and a host of Europe's top clubs including Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid are now on red alert.
Begovic is due for contract talks in the summer but has been out of form in recent weeks. He was not even included on the bench at the Liberty Stadium with Thomas Sorensen there instead after being far from happy to be out of the starting XI.
Now Hughes wants to give the highly-rated Butland some game time ahead of the European Under-21 Championships this summer with Stoke comfortably in mid-table.
"Asmir wants to play every game, but I explained the reasons behind my decision," he said. "I'm very fortunate to have three excellent keepers, so whoever I pick I'm going to get a decent performance.
"It wasn't a big decision. It was one of those where I felt it was the right thing to do.
"I spoke to Jack earlier in the year and said that if I felt there was an opportunity for me to give him game time then I'd do that.
"It was a good time because it was a game of significance, and he needs to be exposed to those games rather than dead rubbers."
Butland himself recently signed a new four-year contract to stay at Stoke to increase fears that Begovic could depart.
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