Tigers fans expect a nervous final few hours of the summer window
Hull City remain defiant in their quest to keep Charlie Hughes at the MKM Stadium beyond Monday’s 7pm transfer deadline amid continued interest from Championship rivals Coventry City.
Coventry saw a third bid turned down on Thursday when owner Doug King sanctioned a £10m bid which was rejected by City owner Acun Ilicali.
That £10m bid, first revealed by Hull Live, follows failed £4m and £7m offers earlier in the window and falls significantly below the Tigers’ valuation of the 21-year-old who joined from Wigan Athletic last summer.
For Ilicali to even contemplate a conversation, Coventry would likely need to offer significantly more, but sources involved in the deal have told Hull Live that the Turkish businessman has no intention of allowing the influential defender to leave the MKM Stadium this summer.
Coventry are not going away with sources saying the Sky Blues are ‘pushing hard’ to try and convince City into selling their prized asset, but as it stands, their resolve will remain firm beyond Monday’s deadline, with the message coming from the owner saying ‘We will not sell’ with the CBS Arena outfit now deciding their next move.
Hughes has emerged as one of Frank Lampard’s top targets this summer, with the former England midfielder admitting the Tigers star was a good player, though he refused to go into any further detail about the Midlands club’s stance and stopped short of confirming their interest publicly.
Tigers boss Sergej Jakirovic has maintained that Hughes is happy and not pushing for a move, and is of the opinion that any potential move next summer would be to a Premier League club.
City believe that Hughes, who has only amassed 30 Championship appearances since his arrival from the Latics 12 months ago, has the potential to earn the club a greater fee than the £17.5m Ipswich Town paid for academy graduate Jacob Greaves last summer.
The defender missed last weekend’s defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers through illness but returned to the starting XI at Ashton Gate on Saturday and endured a nightmare afternoon as the Tigers were beaten 4-2 on the Avon with Sergej Jakirovic admitting transfer talk has been impacting his camp.
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