Will Hughes will not be heading to the Etihad Stadium in January.
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Manchester City have been told to forget about signing £10million wonderkid Will Hughes in the January transfer window with Derby County not selling him until the summer at the earliest.
It was expected that Manchester City would tie up a deal for the 17-year-old ball playing midfielder, who is already an England under-21 international, this month with a cash-plus-player deal to sweeten the Championship club.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini sent assistant David Platt on a scouting mission last weekend and scouts also watched his in action in the East Midlands derby with Nottingham Forest this weekend.
Mancini had hoped to secure the signature of the teenager this month and beat off interest from rivals Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Fulham, amongst other, in the process. But, according to the Sunday People, Derby boss Nigel Clough is happy to wait until the summer at the earliest to cash in the club’s prized asset with no urgency to sell Hughes for financial reasons.
Derby remain in the frame to make the play-offs in the Championship and Clough believes his value could rise further by the end of the current season – particularly with a number of suitors interested in buying him.