The Will Hughes debate

[-JW-]

If Hughes is so good, why hasn't he got us promoted already after 4 seasons in the team?

[-JW-]

And another thing, that beard is tragic.

[RLACML]

​Pirlo covered the second most distance on the pitch last night, only behind his teammate Arturo Vidal.

Hughes can play the sort of role Pirlo plays, holding midfielder BUT he would need a partner to do the tackling and grafting, like Pirlo does.

Now Pirlo is a magnificent player, and if Hughes reaches anywhere near the level that man is at then England will be very blessed, but I feel Hughes as a holding midfielder with another real defensive midfielder, i.e Thorne, could really work.

Thorne Hughes

[Insert winger] [insert CAM] Russell

Martin

This is the way to go in my opinion. That's assuming Will is a Derby player come September.

Dawkins as the CAM, Ince as the other winger. I would love that to be the team next season. 

[Dambuster]

​thats the first ive heard of that

​thats the first ive heard of that

 

As far as I am aware he was already targeted we were just waiting on his fitness with WBA.

[Dambuster]

I consider Dawkins and Christie good signings.And Thorne. Thorne wasn't here before McClaren.

Not good signings for me considering we want consistent players for 40 - 50 games a season.

[-JW-]

 

As far as I am aware he was already targeted we were just waiting on his fitness with WBA.

​Thats true. There was a thread on it a few years ago, which descended into a pun fest.

Good times.

[Mostyn6]

It might help if there was some stability to where he's played I.e. Just behind the front line where he can hurt teams.

Can I also ask other fans who you would trust with any money received from such a sale when the track record so far is Dawkins, Shotton, Warnock, Christie, Albentosa and some in the under 21's who have rarely featured.

i'm excluding Thorne as I thought he was already on our list before SM arrived.

How much money was spent on those players you list? As an average. 

Youll find that what we paid was peanuts and they are what they are, bargain transfers. They've also been part of a pretty decent team for most of the season.

[cannable]

​Completely agree with the killer instinct thing.

Did you watch Pirlo play last night? I've compared Hughes to him before. Not because I think he's going to be that good, but because they're good players for their teams for similar reasons. Neither are physical, and neither of them are what you'd describe as particularly flashy. They're both smart though, and their strength is in their passing. Juventus and Italy play well when Pirlo is able to make his mark, and Derby rarely struggle when Hughes is on his game.

Watch some of his early performances back and he plays just lime Pirlo, only without the risk of pass. That midfield general role Clough used him in is still the best role we've seen him play to date. No doubt in my mind that he has a dormant passing range as well. Some of the stuff I've seen him ping in youth games, friendlies and end-of-season-nothing-games is erection worthy. 

[rammie002]

No... Just no.

[Alph]

Are we crediting George Thorne to Nigel then? 

He's won a promotion with Burton when he wasn't there.  He won the 1st leg v UTD when he wasn't involved and now he's signed George Thorne. 

He's a sneaky fooker.

You want to hold fire on slating Mac's signings. Or you want to have a long think about the signings of the manager you're comparing him to. Whether that be Nigel Clough, Harry Redknapp or Alex Ferguson.

His record hasn't been too bad. Including loans it's been very good. For permanent signings it's been ok. Nowt special. Not too bad.

[Dambuster]

Are we crediting George Thorne to Nigel then? 

He's won a promotion with Burton when he wasn't there.  He won the 1st leg v UTD when he wasn't involved and now he's signed George Thorne. 

He's a sneaky fooker.

You want to hold fire on slating Mac's signings. Or you want to have a long think about the signings of the manager you're comparing him to. Whether that be Nigel Clough, Harry Redknapp or Alex Ferguson.

His record hasn't been too bad. Including loans it's been very good. For permanent signings it's been ok. Nowt special. Not too bad.

 

It's you who's doing the comparing I'm only discussing SM's permanent signings.

By the way, nowt special or not too bad is why we were 8th.

 

 

 

 

[Dambuster]

How much money was spent on those players you list? As an average. 

Youll find that what we paid was peanuts and they are what they are, bargain transfers. They've also been part of a pretty decent team for most of the season.

I don't think it's been revealed how much was paid so can't answer your question, probably the wages are more significant.

Around 83 2014/15 starts between the 6 of them 91 if I add in Whitbread so I'll leave it to others to assess value for money.

i'd better not post any more on this as it's gone off topic. Bye.

 

 

 

[Mostyn6]

I don't think it's been revealed how much was paid so can't answer your question, probably the wages are more significant.

Around 83 2014/15 starts between the 6 of them 91 if I add in Whitbread so I'll leave it to others to assess value for money.

i'd better not post any more on this as it's gone off topic. Bye.

​Well then don't criticise something you don't know the facts about! Over the years, all clubs buy players they rarely (or never) play. It's about minimising risk by providing cover.

If we sold a key player like Hughes, which we haven't done for many years (probably since Shackell), we would naturally have to replace with a key player.

You have (in my opinion, unfairly and ignorantly) used fringe/support/cover players in your list to highlight your reasons why McClaren shouldn't be given any funds raised to buy a first team key player.

[Dambuster]

​Well then don't criticise something you don't know the facts about! Over the years, all clubs buy players they rarely (or never) play. It's about minimising risk by providing cover.

If we sold a key player like Hughes, which we haven't done for many years (probably since Shackell), we would naturally have to replace with a key player.

You have (in my opinion, unfairly and ignorantly) used fringe/support/cover players in your list to highlight your reasons why McClaren shouldn't be given any funds raised to buy a first team key player.

 

 

Thanks for the abusive response, so all the perm signings were cover? Do you really believe that? Wow.

[Mostyn6]

 

 

Thanks for the abusive response, so all the perm signings were cover? Do you really believe that? Wow.

​"Abusive"?? 

Thorne - first team, Shotton - squad rotation, Christie - first team, Warnock - cover, Dawkins- squad rotation, Whitbread - cover, Albentosa - squad rotation.

I never said the word "all". What I did say is you cannot judge someone's ability to spend a lot of money on key players based on how they spent little amounts on NOT key players.

[bcnram]

Without going back over the whole thread I assume this is a should we sell Will Hughes and reinvest in the team topic. I would hope to keep him for next year, play him behind the centre forward(s), encourage him to run at players a little more without worrying about losing the ball occasionally and target him on how many credible shots he gets off. If this unbalances the rest of the midfield (it won't), change the rest of the midfield.

[Dale The Ram]

Most of us agree an overhall of the squad is required. Most of us would also agree we would like Will Hughes to stay at the club.

However, with this in mind, assuming we may get between £10-15 million for Will Hughes and Steve would get all of it to reinvest, flip things around slightly and consider the 2 options:

In Derby's current position and with a budget of £10-15 million would you:

A: Buy Will Hughes

B: Buy a new defence, a couple of quality attacking midfielders and a new striker

Time for a change?

​B no question.

Will Hughes has a great career ahead, now may be the time for a new challenge for him.

We have good youth players in that position such as Calum Guy who can score unlike Will (although Will is an incredible player none the less)

We are desperate for some money to get some new blood, with that money we could get Wisdom for example

[Ted McMinn Football Genius]

​B no question.

Will Hughes has a great career ahead, now may be the time for a new challenge for him.

We have good youth players in that position such as Calum Guy who can score unlike Will (although Will is an incredible player none the less)

We are desperate for some money to get some new blood, with that money we could get Wisdom for example

I agree that for young Wills career, now is the time to set him off to Premier League pastures new.

He is the most naturally gifted footballer I have seen here since Stefano Eranio. 

I see it as a Win/Win situation he gets to ply his trade in one of the best leagues in the world and show what's he's capable of and in turn we get a big fat wedge of cash to spread around on decent defenders etc. 

[Alph]

 

It's you who's doing the comparing I'm only discussing SM's permanent signings.

By the way, nowt special or not too bad is why we were 8th.

 

 

 

 

But you're saying that we shouldn't trust McClaren with a large amount of money. 

So who do we trust with it? 

I wouldn't say such and such is a bad player/manager without having someone in mind who was/is/could do better.

[Dambuster]

But you're saying that we shouldn't trust McClaren with a large amount of money. 

So who do we trust with it? 

I wouldn't say such and such is a bad player/manager without having someone in mind who was/is/could do better.

You're right of course someone has to invest the cash, my deliberations were concerns about the permanent signings so far, I really hope they come good eventually.

In the view of the modern way of football management being a coach with a director of football maybe another question should be considered here is how does it work at Derby, who makes the final choice? I wouldn't like to think we would have a system where a DOF signs players then the coach has to make the best of what is provided.

i don't expect we have that system but still have concerns when large transfer fees are predicted, most of our transfer activity in recent years has procured young and hungry players with something to prove, this has worked quite well especially when you look at the balance sheet.

Having said all that there's always room for a Dave Mackay or an Igor.

 

 

h