Rovers close in on Hughes deal

LEE HUGHES: A transfer target for Doncaster Rovers.

ATHLETIC have not given up hope of keeping Lee Hughes, even though his transfer to Doncaster Rovers has moved several steps closer.

Doncaster have been given permission by Athletic to speak to the 32-year-old striker after the two clubs are understood to have agreed a fee.

Whether a deal is concluded depends on Hughes agreeing personal terms which, I understand, could be an obstacle.

Doncaster manager Sean O’Driscoll confirmed his club were in talks with Hughes after their FA Cup third-round replay win against Cheltenham.

O’Driscoll said: “Our problem has been scoring goals, and we’re in the market for a striker.

“The Lee Hughes move is ongoing. He’s out of contract at the end of the season and we have permission to speak to him.”

An added appeal to Doncaster is that Hughes is not cup-tied and, if a deal were concluded by noon tomorrow, he could play in Saturday’s fourth-round tie against Aston Villa.

Athletic chief executive Alan Hardy admitted the transfer of Hughes to Doncaster is far from a done deal.

“There is still a long way to go as far as I am aware. We are still hopeful we will have Lee in our side to play Stockport County on Saturday,” he explained.

There is a £400,000 opt-out clause in the current contract Hughes has with Athletic.

But as he is out of contract in the summer, when he can leave for free, Athletic might be tempted to accept a lower bid.

Athletic still haven’t given up hope that Hughes will sign the two-year deal which he was recently offered which would make him the club’s highest-paid player.

But unless Doncaster come up with an offer Hughes cannot refuse, the likeliest scenario is that he will stay at Boundary Park until the summer and then weigh up his options.

Athletic’s players yesterday viewed a video nasty - Saturday’s 5-0 hammering at Hereford. They watched the DVD of the loss to try to analyse what went wrong.

Assistant manager Tommy Wright has been pleased with the response of the players in training.

He said: “We hope it was just one of those really bad days. We must learn from it, and it might be a kick up the backside for us.”