Will Hughes - Where will the future take him?

[IlsonDerby]

Those mentioning Southampton need to realise Ward Prowse is miles ahead of Hughes in both the under 21s and club level. Hughes will not remove him. 

[Waffle]

I wish we'd have sold Bennett and Hughes when they were first touted. Hughes would make it internationally for the likes of Wales/ROI but he'd need to endure the bench at a top 6 and wait for his chance. A move to a Burnley or West Brom will do no favours for his career.

[Alph]

You wish we'd sold Hughes???

[MuespachRam]

He is the only top class player we have at the club......after all this time I genuinely wouldn't begrudge him a move anywhere, even to the scouse sess pit.....actually forget that, he can't go there.... Tottenham would be a good move for him or Newcastle at the end of the season when they are back in the big time..!

[Gypsy Ram]

Out of interest - what happened to the Derby County Contracts thread @David ? 

[Papahet]

Not too arsed about the lack of goals, he's a top little player to have in any side. 

Said in another thread, wouldn't give a crap who left DCFC aslong as Hughes is still here pulling the strings in midfield. On his day he's on another level to anyone else in the league; reckon his value has decreased the past year or so, but he's still going to fetch 15+ million easily - look at Lewis Cook and Jeff friggin' Hendrick.

Notice how he's trying the roulette skills and back heels? Confidence is beaming again.

If he's still here next year it's a miracle and IMO he need's a good Premier move soon to reach full potential.

 

[Rev]

12 minutes ago, Gypsy Ram said:

Out of interest - what happened to the Derby County Contracts thread @David ? 

It's in the transfer talk section.

[Mr Tibbs]

I've been on his back this year, I thought he had a very disappointing first 10-12 games for someone of his ilk. Co-incide with NP and the bad form/low confidence? Probably so but he was still playing below himself IMO. Great to see him back to his best at the weekend, there's very few players at this level that would attempt a through ball like that never mind pull it off. The ball to Vydra was fantastic too. Like Mac said, he just needs to make it consistent now. He needs to be making a big impact on our games, every other game. I'm not asking for through balls like that or match winners every week but he needs to have an impact on our performance one way or another, he's now going to get that opportunity to do this with mac back. 

 

I don't think it's as simple as "he would get in every team in the bottom half of the PL". He wouldn't fit in most of those teams. Do you think Sunderland, despite winning one game all year and being rooted to the foot of the table, could afford the luxury of Will in their midfield 2? No chance. 

 

Keep him, he's worth more to us. 

[The Key Club King]

I think £20 million minimum. He has played well about 3 times this season. When he has had 6 good games then 40 million. Anymore good games above that then we should retire him to stud.

[Woodley Ram]

Hughes will go to the Prem, no idea where but I hope it's a good club 

[Steve How Hard?]

12 minutes ago, Woodley Ram said:

Hughes will go to the Prem, no idea where but I hope it's a good club 

U are quite right he will go to the Prem but it won't be a good club. It will be with a great club called Derby County.

[ketteringram]

2 hours ago, Seth's left foot said:

If he carries on in this vein then next summer could be the time when somebody finally snaps him up, it only took a half decent Euro's to get Hendrick his move.

i hope he makes the right move if he does go and not ruin his career like Huddlestone did.

 

I'd swap my career with Huddlestones quite happily . 

[Waffle]

2 hours ago, Alpha said:

You wish we'd sold Hughes???

Well I'm torn. As someone has said, his value and his progress has been stunted by his bad luck. Not trying to undermine what he's contributed to all of us. But if we'd had a better recruitment team, the collective let's say £20million for both Hughes and Bennett could've funded more academy development or first team players. It's not really an important or relevant argument. But it's an alternate scenario.

[Woodley Ram]

1 hour ago, Steve How Hard!!! said:

U are quite right he will go to the Prem but it won't be a good club. It will be with a great club called Derby County.

Hope you are right

[Gypsy Ram]

He has one more year on his contract. So either we go up with him and he signs a new one, or he's gone in the summer. I really doubt Will will sign a new contract if we are in the championship and we would probably cash up on him this summer. 

Sad really because we should have already been up with Thorne, Hendrick and Hughes as our centre mids.  

[Steve How Hard?]

8 minutes ago, Woodley Ram said:

Hope you are right

Me too or maybe I've overdosed on optimism pills. 

[Bridgford Ram]

4 hours ago, Seth's left foot said:

 

i hope he makes the right move if he does go and not ruin his career like Huddlestone did.

 

I think Huddlestone had a good career, still only 29 as well I have just spotted!

3 hours ago, IlsonDerby said:

Those mentioning Southampton need to realise Ward Prowse is miles ahead of Hughes in both the under 21s and club level. Hughes will not remove him. 

That is an interesting point because Ward-Prowse isn't an automatic starter in the Southampton midfield.  Just shows that 

25 minutes ago, Gypsy Ram said:

He has one more year on his contract. So either we go up with him and he signs a new one, or he's gone in the summer. I really doubt Will will sign a new contract if we are in the championship and we would probably cash up on him this summer. 

Sad really because we should have already been up with Thorne, Hendrick and Hughes as our centre mids.  

Fully agree, I'd have love to see them three develop.  That performance in the second leg versus Brighton!

 

I think Hughes is technically a great player and is an example of the modern keep possession at all costs type midfielder.  I don't think his performances have yet lived up to his promise / potential / talent.  I think if we were to sell him (and only 1 year of contract remaining is a worry if that is true) I think we would get around 10 million.  I think he is worth more to us than that and will potentially develop into a player worth far more but I think we would get about the same as we did for Jeff after his Euro performances.

[Alph]

25 minutes ago, Waffle said:

Well I'm torn. As someone has said, his value and his progress has been stunted by his bad luck. Not trying to undermine what he's contributed to all of us. But if we'd had a better recruitment team, the collective let's say £20million for both Hughes and Bennett could've funded more academy development or first team players. It's not really an important or relevant argument. But it's an alternate scenario.

I see your point.

I'd say that if you look at top midfielders in the Champ then Hughes is right up there with the best of them. For us he's the guy you can pass to when you're Cornered and he'll take it and deal with it. He's the guy that gives you the best ball possible at the best time so you have an easy game. 

To a team that tries to play from the back and a team that essentially looks to create quality chances over snatching half chances that is vital. I think for us to get someone like that again would be very difficult. 

One of the top Championship midfield players was Butterfield. Now we've seen him next to Hughes he appears to be a Hughes Lite. Will Hughes just seems to have a lot of everything. 

What draws attention tends to be a player who can pull out a goal from nowhere several times per season to win points. Hughes here is just focused on finding the best man in the best position. He rarely considers that he might be the best man to finish the move. That's probably why we've managed to hold onto him. 

I do see your point. I just think for what we'd lose that it'd be so hard to play the way we want to play because any replacement would just not quite have that intelligence and instinct. 

If however we were to continue down the Pearson route then Hughes wouldn't be so vital. Pearson doesn't build through the pitch. He's much more focused on testing the opponents backline and organisation as quick as possible. Which sounds great but as we saw it does require different skills from what our lads have. Our best players like to be a bit more in control. 

(with the way we've recruited you wouldn't trust them with £20 would you?)

[Gypsy Ram]

11 minutes ago, Bridgford Ram said:

I think Huddlestone had a good career, still only 29 as well I have just spotted!

That is an interesting point because Ward-Prowse isn't an automatic starter in the Southampton midfield.  Just shows that 

Fully agree, I'd have love to see them three develop.  That performance in the second leg versus Brighton!

 

I think Hughes is technically a great player and is an example of the modern keep possession at all costs type midfielder.  I don't think his performances have yet lived up to his promise / potential / talent.  I think if we were to sell him (and only 1 year of contract remaining is a worry if that is true) I think we would get around 10 million.  I think he is worth more to us than that and will potentially develop into a player worth far more but I think we would get about the same as we did for Jeff after his Euro performances.

I agree.  Blame uncle Mel for tipping the apple cart. Had we had Steve for the last 18 months - who knows what would have happened with the development of those three. 

[Gypsy Ram]

7 minutes ago, Alpha said:

I see your point.

I'd say that if you look at top midfielders in the Champ then Hughes is right up there with the best of them. For us he's the guy you can pass to when you're Cornered and he'll take it and deal with it. He's the guy that gives you the best ball possible at the best time so you have an easy game. 

To a team that tries to play from the back and a team that essentially looks to create quality chances over snatching half chances that is vital. I think for us to get someone like that again would be very difficult. 

One of the top Championship midfield players was Butterfield. Now we've seen him next to Hughes he appears to be a Hughes Lite. Will Hughes just seems to have a lot of everything. 

What draws attention tends to be a player who can pull out a goal from nowhere several times per season to win points. Hughes here is just focused on finding the best man in the best position. He rarely considers that he might be the best man to finish the move. That's probably why we've managed to hold onto him. 

I do see your point. I just think for what we'd lose that it'd be so hard to play the way we want to play because any replacement would just not quite have that intelligence and instinct. 

If however we were to continue down the Pearson route then Hughes wouldn't be so vital. Pearson doesn't build through the pitch. He's much more focused on testing the opponents backline and organisation as quick as possible. Which sounds great but as we saw it does require different skills from what our lads have. Our best players like to be a bit more in control. 

(with the way we've recruited you wouldn't trust them with £20 would you?)

I think I was the first to say that he was "a poor man's Will Hughes". 

I have always been an advocate of Hughes. 

One of the best technical players to wear the shirt. The only reason he's not in the prem with Thorne and Hendrick is -because  they got injured and Hendrick didn't .