Hull City transfer news: Coventry City fail in third bid for defender, according to reports
Hull City face a fight to keep Charlie Hughes in the final days of the transfer window after reportedly rejecting a £10m bid for the centre-back.
Coventry City's interest in the 21-year-old defender is well known, and on Thursday evening Hull Live reported a third Sky Blues bid for Hughes had been turned down. They have until Monday’s 7pm transfer deadline to come up with an offer their fellow Championship club cannot refuse.
Coventry defender Bobby Thomas – who spent the second half of 2022-23 on loan from Barnsley – has been linked with a move to the Premier League this summer. Sheffield United are also thought to have shown an interest, though whether that remains after signing Japhet Tanganga, Nils Zatterstrom and Ben Godfrey is unclear.
But Hull are determined to keep Hughes, who they believe they can develop into a £20m defender.
On the eve of the season, Tigers coach Sergej Jakirovic told Hughes joining another Championship club would be a sideways move and his next transfer should be to the top flight, when he is ready to do so.
Signed from Wigan Athletic last summer, Hughes has emerged as a key figure at Hull, and a popular one on the terraces.
With Lewie Coyle missing the start of the season through injury, Hughes has been wearing the captain's armband. He missed last week's 3-0 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers with a virus, but is fit to return at Bristol City on Saturday.
Hull are working under "fee restrictions" which mean they could only replace Hughes with a free transfer or a loan signing that did not come with a fee. Those restrictions are not due to end until next season.
They were put in place by the Football League because of the club's financial problems, and an eight-figure transfer fee would obviously go a long way to helping with them.
A third window of fee restrictions will be triggered next summer if Hull are a total of seven days late in making payments to players, other clubs or HMRC. They twice failed to pay money owed to other clubs within 30 days this summer, triggering transfer embargoes that were quickly lifted.
Chairman/owner Acun Ilicali has consistently said he will never stand in the way of a player who wants to leave, although there has been no indication yet that Hughes falls into that camp, or that Coventry's previous interest has distracted him.
If Hull can stand firm until 7pm on Monday, Hughes is guaranteed to be their player for the remainder of the year, until the next transfer window opens.