Hughes - fee agreed!!

23 August 2002

In a statement on their official site, Coventry City have announced the following:

The signing seems unlikely to happen today, and even if it does it would be too late for Hughes to appear as a full Albion player in tomorrow's game against Leeds United (although it may be possible to use the old trick of making him a short-term loan signing and then converting it to a permament move on Monday). No news has been made public regarding the fee, but it is understood to be somewhere in the region of £3.75 million. After recently making the second payment for their purchase of Hughes, Coventry still owe Albion the final payment of £1.5 million, due next August. In real terms, therefore, Albion will be just slightly up on the deal after paying £750,000 of the original £5,000,001 fee to Kidderminster because of the sell-on clause. But that doesn't take the tax bill into account, of course...

The reaction from fans seems to be a little mixed, with some delighted at the prospect of getting him back, some feeling that there could be better alternatives and some still hostile because of the way he left the club he loved for more money. Regular reader Jon Easter summarised the general mood with:

" I saw him play for Coventry at Reading last week. He still looked very good when he had the ball at his feet and was running at opponents and his work rate was first class. If he signs I think it will be a major boost. It offers a different route to the high ball to Dichio."

Previous Stories:

  21 August 2002:  ManU reserves 1 WBA reserves 0

  21 August 2002:  Koumas fee agreed!

  19 August 2002:  Sadlier move unlikely

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