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Will Hughes

valleyram

By valleyram
in Derby County Forum

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Kennington Ram

Kennington Ram

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, ramsbottom said:

Unfortunately, with our major splurge on players this seasons I think we're going to have to cut our cloth accordingly and our young Will is our only valuable asset.  As much as I'd love him to line up for his first Premier League game alongside the rest of the Derby players, I really can't see it.  £15m with a seasons loan back would be the best we could hope for...

We should try selling some of our cast offs to Villa. They owe us one, have PL chute money to spend, and also they may well end up desperately scrabbling round for big buys.

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Uptherams

Uptherams

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If a club wants him then they will have to pay big. I fear that was his last game for us (as a Derby contracted player). Could end up back on loan for a season. But it's such a shame that Will has almost never been played in his optimum position. The advanced center mid. Wherever he is next season I hope he is played in his position. I do hope he spends the summer practicing his shots. If he had a better shot then he would be a world beater. 

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Half fan

Half fan

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If I was Will (I should be so lucky, he's the most talented creative footballer I have seen since The Wizard On The Wing) then having negotiated as much salary as the prospective buyer offers, I would want to know from Uncle Mel who the manager will be and will Uncle Mel stay out of the dressing room in every sense.

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trevor1946

trevor1946

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Posted

Yep they were the days when we played academy players,Hughes -Hendricks-Bennett--Hanson.

Brave in those days,now to sit on the bench,you have to cost millions.

We now have a better academy,but nobody wise enough to play them

Hughes for England-------not far away

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SaintRam

SaintRam

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Half fan said:

If I was Will (I should be so lucky, he's the most talented creative footballer I have seen since The Wizard On The Wing) then having negotiated as much salary as the prospective buyer offers, I would want to know from Uncle Mel who the manager will be and will Uncle Mel stay out of the dressing room in every sense.

200.gif

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SaintRam

SaintRam

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I watched the game last night with an American friend who'd never watched a game of football. Hearing him repeatedly say, "the blonde kid is a god" had me grinning.

He was more disappointed Derby didn't manage to win than I was :lol:

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RichardsonRam88

RichardsonRam88

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Fantastic last night and really really pleased to have him back (obviously).

After a pretty much season ending injury, to come back and play to that level is amazing!! I hope he stays with Derby, but I fear the big teams will have seen his response to his injury and been even more impressed by Will. Im very glad that Mel has deep pockets and hopefully we can bat away teams. He is our future and Mel/Sam should do everything in their power to keep him.

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duncanjwitham

duncanjwitham

Posted
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2 hours ago, Wolfie20 said:

But isn't that part of our problem? You build a team around a player then major injury or serious loss of form and we are banjaxed with no acceptable alternative!

I've been a fan of Chris Martin but accept that with the way we set up, if he loses form or is marked out of the game then more often than not we struggle.

I always hate the 'we build our team around Martin' arguments. We don't build the team around him (or Thorne, or Hughes etc), we play to his strengths. And when we play to these players strengths, the team overall plays better.  The solution to what happens if those players are injured or out of form isn't to stop playing to their strengths and make them less effective when they are fit and in form.  

The problem when these players have been out has been two-fold - firstly, we haven't replaced them properly. We've replaced the wrong things - we replaced Martin's goal scoring (with Bent) and Thorne's creative passing (Mascarell, Hughes at times), when what we really needed to replace is Martin's ability to hold the ball up, and Thorne's defensive positioning and simple-passing. If we had had Eustace cover for Thorne last season, and had a big player (think Nuhiu, Clayton Donaldson etc) bringing other players into the game, we'd have done considerably better than with Mascarell and Bent IMO.

Secondly, when we've got the wrong replacements in, we've not even played to their strengths, we've played to the strengths of the guys they are supposed to be replacing. There's no point playing balls into Bent's feet, he needs through balls to run onto. I'm struggling to think of a decent through-ball we've played for Bent in the 18 months he's been here.  Clement was particularly bad for this - e.g. he'd bring Bent in for Martin, but then start Hendrick and Johnson in midfield, who have their own strengths, but playing through-balls isn't one of them.

My plan for next season, would be to keep hold of the core squad - Thorne, Martin, Hughes, Bryson, etc and for the most part aim to play the same way as we have under McClaren and Wassall (at times) - ball on the floor, high-tempo pass and move and so on.  On top of that, we need an experienced holding midfielder (Eustace Mk2 basically) that can play if Thorne is injured, or we can use to bring on and shore up games if it's tight. We need a pacy, physical winger (an Ibe/Antonio type player) who can carry the ball, beat his man and bully opposing defenders.  And we need a physical centre forward who can hold the ball up, ideally with a bit of pace as well, who we can use to cover for Martin and also as someone we can throw on as a second striker for the last 15 if we're behind.  The main thing though, is that all of these players can drop into our base 433 without massively disrupting it, but can also be used to change the way we play.  So they're not just being used as cover, they're options from the bench and also challenging the main starters.

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eustonstation

eustonstation

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9 hours ago, NedKelly87 said:

But unfortunately he's a Liverpool fan always has been and if they come sniffing he'll want to leave.

True, that would be hard to pass up.

But seeing someone like Ibe go from golden boy to falling down the pecking order in just a few months has to be eye-opening for a smart young player like Hughes. 

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Shang

Shang

Posted
Posted

Hughes was trending on twitter last night. Not Derby County or any of those match hashtags that start off when a game is on. A lot of people were talking about him specifically and picking up on how good he's too good for the championship. Wouldn't be surprised if there were a handful of offers.

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São Paulo Ram

São Paulo Ram

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Yeah let's be realistic here, I think this is the summer the lad goes. Would be a massive shame for us, but he would do well in most Prem sides.

Would love us to keep hold of him, but if he was at any other Championship club, we would be speaking with heads and not hearts, and waiting to open the paper to see him transferred to Saints/Liverpool etc

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