Official: Will Hughes joins Watford

[Warren Hobhead]

I've seen Hughes have a fair amount of games over the years where he's bossed proceedings. Where he's on the ball, knitting play together, pirouetting beyond opponents, little tricks and flicks, getting stuck in, here there and everywhere. Even scoring once a blue moon. He's been a joy to watch when on his game. But those games were the big minority in truth, and we all know it. 

 

I've seen Bryson have stellar games. Where he's a bundle of energy, ratting around and forcing mistakes, linking brilliantly with fellow midfielders and forwards, scoring some brilliant goals or making them for others. Maybe not as regularly as a couple of years ago, but same goes for Will and others. 

 

I've seen Butterfield absolutely dominate games. I've seen us look bereft, without ideas, beaten and he's off the bench and transforms our fortunes remarkably. He's created goals with great passing, he's made us tick. Linking superbly with his forwards I've seen him score absolute bangers from distance. Again, not often enough more recently, like the others. 

 

Johnson has been a complete machine in many a match for us. The difference between points and no points. He's weighed in with some cracking, vital goals too after dominating his opponents both in the air and on the deck. He's had games where he's been simply imperious and looked every inch our standout player. Not as often as we'd like, just like the rest. 

 

In essence, they're all quality players and all have had good, bad, great, awful and indifferent performances in a Derby shirt. Yet the only one who is excused, the only given credit beyond warranty, the one lauded over the rest is Hughes. There were a handful of games last season where he played like a pub player. But little was said. That's a good thing, by the way. We shouldn't create huge threads hammering players after a bad game. We all have our off days, even us mere mortals. But I've no idea why Will was afforded such luxuries and excuses whilst others (the three above) have been pilloried, castigated and booed by our own supporters (in some cases). 

 

Good luck to Will. He won't be Watford's golden boy and this might be the making of him. But I would love our fans to support those who do want to be here and get behind GR and his squad this season.

[King Kevin]

11 hours ago, cannable said:

Why not watch non-league instead then? 

With our transfer policy he won't have to wait long.

[DCFC1388]

Can't help but think Hughes leaving will be announced around the same time as Wisdom passes his medical!

[DRBee]

20 minutes ago, Warren Hobhead said:

I've seen Hughes have a fair amount of games over the years where he's bossed proceedings. Where he's on the ball, knitting play together, pirouetting beyond opponents, little tricks and flicks, getting stuck in, here there and everywhere. Even scoring once a blue moon. He's been a joy to watch when on his game. But those games were the big minority in truth, and we all know it. 

 

I've seen Bryson have stellar games. Where he's a bundle of energy, ratting around and forcing mistakes, linking brilliantly with fellow midfielders and forwards, scoring some brilliant goals or making them for others. Maybe not as regularly as a couple of years ago, but same goes for Will and others. 

 

I've seen Butterfield absolutely dominate games. I've seen us look bereft, without ideas, beaten and he's off the bench and transforms our fortunes remarkably. He's created goals with great passing, he's made us tick. Linking superbly with his forwards I've seen him score absolute bangers from distance. Again, not often enough more recently, like the others. 

 

Johnson has been a complete machine in many a match for us. The difference between points and no points. He's weighed in with some cracking, vital goals too after dominating his opponents both in the air and on the deck. He's had games where he's been simply imperious and looked every inch our standout player. Not as often as we'd like, just like the rest. 

 

In essence, they're all quality players and all have had good, bad, great, awful and indifferent performances in a Derby shirt. Yet the only one who is excused, the only given credit beyond warranty, the one lauded over the rest is Hughes. There were a handful of games last season where he played like a pub player. But little was said. That's a good thing, by the way. We shouldn't create huge threads hammering players after a bad game. We all have our off days, even us mere mortals. But I've no idea why Will was afforded such luxuries and excuses whilst others (the three above) have been pilloried, castigated and booed by our own supporters (in some cases). 

 

Good luck to Will. He won't be Watford's golden boy and this might be the making of him. But I would love our fans to support those who do want to be here and get behind GR and his squad this season.

Sadly, despite its length this post is deficient and the description of Johnson here is unrecognisable to me.

Hughes tends to keep the ball or pass to a teammate, though not as effectively last season as before . Johnson gives the ball away very frequently and that has certainly cost us.

[PistoldPete2]

Rowett says he wants to bring in 2 or 3 players but we need to sell players first . We would have to hope Ronaldo and messi will come to us in exile from Spanish tax authorities if we have to replace will.

[kingsy1884]

First off i really rate Hughes, the best player i have ever seen come out of our academy but I have come to think that this wouldn't be bad for both parties if we part ways. 

Hughes gets the chance we know he should probably have had already in the prem. 

We cut our wage bill, gain some money in the process and lets say our replacement is someone like Irvine who bags 10 goals in a season and really carry the team forward (big if i know) but we will all forget about him and GR will be proclaimed a genius. 

Stranger things have happened but every player has their price and one player doesn't make a team. Especially one who hasn't shown much improvement in the last few seasons. 

[Mostyn6]

I personally think I have no reason to support Rowett any less or more if Hughes is sold. 

Stats may prove me wrong but my gut feeling is that having Hughes in the team didn't bring more points and not having him in the team didn't cost us points. 

The pack needs to be shuffled and for all the ludicrous outcry about selling the likes of Blackman and Anya instead, what the hell would that achieve? We needed to shake up the 30+ games a season players! Not the five minutes every fortnight players! 

I'd have preferred to have improved those around Will and kept him, but that is pure blind faith! 

[Carnero]

5 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

I personally think I have no reason to support Rowett any less or more if Hughes is sold. 

Stats may prove me wrong but my gut feeling is that having Hughes in the team didn't bring more points and not having him in the team didn't cost us points. 

The pack needs to be shuffled and for all the ludicrous outcry about selling the likes of Blackman and Anya instead, what the hell would that achieve? We needed to shake up the 30+ games a season players! Not the five minutes every fortnight players! 

I'd have preferred to have improved those around Will and kept him, but that is pure blind faith! 

This!!!

[NottsRammy]

6 hours ago, cannable said:

I find it absolutely staggering that people don't understand Willberforce's contribution. Absolutely staggering. I don't care if I sound pompous, it would seem Hughes is too subtle for some of you to comprehend his brilliance. 

Iniesta recalled his footballing education with the simple phrase; "Recieve, pass, offer. Receive, pass, offer." Xavi? "I get the ball. I pass the ball. I get the ball. I pass the ball. I get the ball." And this is what Will does. @Alpha described him best. He's a buff for everybody else. He'll hang on to the ball until just the right time, taking two, three, four… I even remember on one occasion six players out of the game. He'll use the ball intelligently and so often he'll 'assist the assist'. 

A criticism of his is that he doesn't control games, which is true of the McClaren system in which it wasn't his job to. He was limited to knitting the right side together and in the scrappy games to drop deeper and tip the tide in our favour. 

In the Clough system, when not wide left, he was our deepest midfielder and he was instigating everything. Clough once stated that the team's instructions were to "give the ball to Will and he'll take care of it". And he did. He and Keogh kickstarted 'The Derby Way'. 

Under Wassall he was either the pivot or was in the attacking two which functioned differently to McClaren's system. Ince, Bryson, Hughes and Johnny had complete freedom under Wassall. In the attacking two we saw majestic performances from WillYam. He crated a quite majestic goal for Weimann at Brighton and made more successful dribbles (8) against Hull (A) than any other player in a Championship game in 15/16. 

He's a modern playmaker. He instigates things as opposed to directly creating. He uses the ball intelligently and keeps it no matter what. He could fall in a haystack and come out playing football with the needle. 

And I have no doubt we haven't seen the best of him. I think he's too intelligent for his own good. His X-Factor moments have largely come in friendlies or youth games;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IP41rOm-q5c

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=21TDxGZYIt0

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HllQsMVwEqo

As Clough once stated; "Will can be whatever he wants."

And my grief is amplified by the fact that I actually think George is better and I think they'll have played about 8 games together. That's two thirds of a top six midfield in the Prem.

You got the bit about will spot on but you missed the KEY bit . He is a ball retaining midfielder . My problem is that in the FORWARD position in midfield he plays in he doesn't play enough FORWARD balls or SCORE enough there are not enough clever thru balls to forwards . 90% of the time its either sideways and 8% backwards and 2% forwards. Its simply not good enough , I personally have seen the perm injured George thorne paly a lot more forward balls from a lot deeper position. 

Contrary to what a lot think I haven't seen him control ENOUGH games and that is what he needs to do and score.

I like Will I really do but he is so far over hyped its unbelievable , honestly I would rate him as a slightly above average midfielder he is missing key ingrediants to make him a top player . 

[DazzaRam]

We wont miss Will Hughes as much as we have missed Jeff Hendrick. Rowett WILL get a midfield player in...a proper central midfield player who knows how to play central midfield. For me midfield was our weakest link last season. Losing Thorne then selling Hendrick without replacing either was a disaster. We were unbalanced all season trying all kinds of permitations with the midfield hoping to stumble on to a formula that worked. Rowett is selling Hughes and he will address the midfield issue. Derby will be a better team this season...and stronger physically.

[EnigmaRam]

34 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

I personally think I have no reason to support Rowett any less or more if Hughes is sold. 

Stats may prove me wrong but my gut feeling is that having Hughes in the team didn't bring more points and not having him in the team didn't cost us points. 

The pack needs to be shuffled and for all the ludicrous outcry about selling the likes of Blackman and Anya instead, what the hell would that achieve? We needed to shake up the 30+ games a season players! Not the five minutes every fortnight players! 

I'd have preferred to have improved those around Will and kept him, but that is pure blind faith! 

Your right about those that have played and failed. However I'd say Russell, Butterfield, Olson, Christie, bent and Pearce to name a few have been the problem and should go before our quality. 

Im gutted I won't see Keogh pass the ball out to Thorne, for him to turn on it and move it quickly to Hughes. Hughes pirouettes to pass the ball out to Ince who cuts inside, dummies the shot and lays it off for Martin to put in the top corner.

i was exited about having stability at the club and seeing the returning Martin, Fozzy and Thorne all playing with Hughes, Ince and a couple of better players brought in to take this team to a balanced next level.

instead we get a fire sale where everyone can go and we will be watching mainly strangers running round the Pitch in a Derby shirt.

i hope it comes good and we get promoted but if it doesn't we will see yet another sacking, have no money to buy any quality and have no quality players to win matches for us

[MackworthRamIsGod]

I think the fact it is Watford suggests Will Hughes wants to leave, he must feel he is ready for the premier league challenge and would take any club offering for his services.

He has just signed a long term contract on a big wage with Derby, so he could very easily turn Watford down, decide to fight for his place at Derby and raise his own stock again hoping for the Liverpool dream move.

But he isn't.

 

[Mr. P]

 

[LazloW]

I'm sorry to be seeing Will go, particularly for what might look like a pretty poor fee (if some reports are to be believed) and to a club such as Watford (that irks the most).  It has been clear from his debut that Will wasn't going to spend his entire career here, even if we managed to become an established PL team.  I don't understand those who now seek to deride him, unless its about rationalising the situation to overcome the 'pain' (as far as one is likely to do that over football...!).  I can't see how anybody can't see his quality.

The time was going to come when either he was too good for us - whatever level we were at - or we were going to be holding him back from acheiving his potential. I think the latter has arrived and he needs to move on.  

For what its worth, we might end up selling two academy graduates for around £15m in two seasons... in terms of self sufficiency, that can't be a bad thing.  Academies aren't only about growing your own for the first team, they are also about creating assets to sell on.  

[Gritstone Ram]

Would anyone swap Hughes for Vydra and Anya? 

No??

Shouldn't we be asking for over £13m to start with then.

[duncanjwitham]

37 minutes ago, NottsRammy said:

You got the bit about will spot on but you missed the KEY bit . He is a ball retaining midfielder . My problem is that in the FORWARD position in midfield he plays in he doesn't play enough FORWARD balls or SCORE enough there are not enough clever thru balls to forwards . 90% of the time its either sideways and 8% backwards and 2% forwards. Its simply not good enough , I personally have seen the perm injured George thorne paly a lot more forward balls from a lot deeper position. 

Of course Thorne plays more forward balls from a deeper position, that's pretty much gonna happen by definition. The further forward you are on the pitch, the less forward passes you will play.  Keogh and Carson play more forward balls, and Ince and Bent play much, much less.

But even ignoring that, you're way, way off with your made-up percentages.  squawka.com have pass direction stats for players, and 60% of Hughes passes went forwards last season.  It's been pretty consistent over the last 4 years as well (which is as far back as their stats go).  And last season, only Ince and Christie(!) created more chances than Hughes. That's pretty consistent over the last 4 seasons as well (barring the season he was injured).

[Lokidoki]

30 minutes ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

He has just signed a long term contract on a big wage with Derby, so he could very easily turn Watford down, decide to fight for his place at Derby

Firstly, we have to recognise the contribution of agents here; they gain when a player moves. Secondly I have suggested previously that whoever granted the contract extension probably created a contract that was more favourable for the player than the club, hence a get-out clause if we didn't get promoted last season. Finally it is also assumed that GR could not offer WH a permanent place in the line-up, which makes sense if the side is now to become more physical and direct in approach. This would create the driver to leave and could have been intentional.

What is worrisome is that it appears that our club's contractual stipulations appear to have lower preference than the other parties within the agreements and that makes for commercial suicide for lots of other player's arrangements. Of course we will never, ever get know this officially but it could be (note this is not an assertion)  part of the reason why the previous CEO departed.

 

[Mihangel]

25 minutes ago, Squid said:

 

This is a bit of pointless Q&A, of course they are 2 entirely independent valuations. The transactions probably won't be though.

[The_Sheriff]

22 minutes ago, Squid said:

 

So if we still have outstanding payments and now they will have to pay us for hughes surely we just cancel the payments. Or would we have to send the full amount and they send the full amount back for tax purposes or whatever?

Mackworth Ram said along the lines he was confident the fee is 8.5m with further add ons and a sell on clause. Do we believe him or these journalists. I presume Owen Bradley is usually pretty reliable too?

 

whichever fee it is makes a big difference to how bad this deal really is.

[MackworthRamIsGod]

We can't be just accepting 4.5 million up front for Will Hughes with extra add ons?

I refuse to believe Mel Morris would be such a Pratt to accept such a low offer, if he has that would put him as the biggest idiot in football, now that Fawaz has gone.

There must be payments being written off from Watford or this is the worst transfer in the history of our club, far worse than Huddlestone (as we were run by crooks at the time)...

We are currently ran by a sound business man, who has made money making brilliant business decisions...I refuse to believe he would make such a monumental balls up of a decision.