Huddersfield Town must pay £10m for Tom Ince says Rams chief

Town have been linked with the 25-year-old for the past month and have reportedly seen bids up to £7.2m rejected, with the Rams looking for a fee of around £10m.

Rowett says Derby have set a price tag on Ince, who was the club’s top scorer last season with 15 goals.

Rowett said: “There has been interest from Huddersfield but, as of yet, they have not met our valuation on the player.

“Tom is a player that scored 15 goals last season and it is very difficult to replace that, but it is also very difficult to keep a player that has an opportunity to play in the Premier League.

We have set a valuation that allows us to strengthen in different ways.

“If a team meets that valuation then we will consider selling any of our players.

“We have some fantastic players and the deals have to be right for any of those players.

“It is not just other teams looking at our best players, we are looking at other teams’ best players as well.

“Should Tom leave, we would be looking at a very, very high quality replacement.

“Hopefully, it won’t happen and, hopefully, he will be our player.”

Town are pressing ahead in their quest to finalise a club record £11m move for Montpellier forward Steve Mounie - although yesterday’s sudden passing of the French club’s president Louis Nicollin may have slightly delayed the completion of the switch.