Watford close in on £8m deal for England U21 international

Watford are on the verge of making their first signing of the summer by wrapping up an £8m deal for Derby midfielder Will Hughes, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Hughes has been regularly linked with a move to the Premier League in recent years and Watford are now ready to hand the 22-year-old the chance to make the leap to England’s top-tier.

The 22-year-old is currently in Poland with England’s U21 squad at the European Championships but Derby are finally ready to let academy product leave Pride Park after six years at the club in order to raise money to bolster Gary Rowett’s squad.

Despite being on international duty, Watford are close to sealing an £8m deal that could eventually rise to £10m if performance-related add-ons are met during his time with the Hornets.

The fact that Hughes’ agent, Paolo Vernazza, used to play for Watford will likely help Marco Silva’s side convince the Derby central midfielder to make the switch to Vicarage Road when he returns from Poland.

Hughes has spent the last 12 months recovering from a serious knee injury sustained in August 2015 that saw him ruled out for nine months. He managed to take part in 38 league matches for Derby last season and would have been disappointed to only score two goals.

However, only Max Lowe (3.4) averaged more tackles per game of Derby players in the Championship than Hughes (2.7), while the England midfielder also picked up the most bookings for the Rams (10).

For more stats on Will Hughes, click here to visit his WhoScored player page