Friday’s capture of Derby County midfielder was Watford’s first foray into the summer transfer market, with the 22-year-old signing a five-year contract at Vicarage Road. The Rams received an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £8m.
Named man of the match in England U21’s European Championship semi-final defeat to Germany last night, Hughes will now complete the formalities on his return. However, he has already cited the challenge of taking the step up as his motivation for the move.
“Every English player wants to play in the Premier League. Having played in the Championship for so long I gave it a good go to get promoted, but the chance to join a Premier League team was too hard to turn down. I’m massively excited, it’s a new chapter in my life and I can’t wait to get started.”
The History
Snapped up by Derby from local side Mickleover Jubilee, Hughes was to rise rapidly through the ranks.
He made a reserve team debut in 2011 and, later that same season, was called into the first team squad by then manager Nigel Clough. He made his debut from the bench in a 3-2 defeat to Peterborough and grew in stature from that point.
Hughes scored his first Derby goal in September 2012 having been promoted permanently to Clough’s first team squad. Come November, he picked up the Championship Player of the month award and made his first U21 international appearance.
At that stage, there were reports that ten Premier League clubs were assessing his progress ahead of the January transfer window. But Derby resisted any approach for the 18-year-old, with Hughes suffering an injury later in February that would see him ruled out until mid-April.
Progress continued in 2013/14 with Hughes recording four goals and six assists over 39 Championship appearances.
Hughes followed that with two goals and five assists in 2014/15 – a campaign which saw him make 37 appearances for the Rams.
A further, more significant injury was to follow in the opening game of the 2015/16 season.
Hughes suffered cruciate ligament damage to his knee. It kept him sidelined for six months and saw him limited to just six appearances that term.
Last season Hughes made 28 starts from central midfield with 10 appearances from the bench, producing two goals and three assists.
He left Derby having made 165 league appearances, scoring nine and recording a total of 17 assists.
The Prospects
Those statistics offer the greatest indication of Hughes’ immediate Fantasy prospects – he is not yet a prolific scorer or creator of goals.
However, Hughes is a player who has epitomised the term “potential” and we’re yet to see how he will develop.
He has mainly been deployed in a traditional central midfield position at Derby in a 4-3-3 formation.
Watford’s new manager Marco Silva is a fierce advocate of 4-2-3-1, while also turning to 4-1-4-1 formation at Hull City.
The Hornets boss always loves to play with width and will likely turn to one, if not two holding midfielders in the double pivot.
Hughes, despite his six-foot frame, is unlikely to be earmarked for one of those roles.
An industrious midfielder, he will not shy away from a tackle. Indeed, Hughes’ enthusiasm earned him ten yellow cards last season; another factor that will likely limit immediate Fantasy interest.
But his future surely lies in attacking areas.
An elegant and technically gifted footballer, he confesses to model his game on Barcelona legends Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
The comparisons have some merit. Hughes has quick feet, rarely concedes possession and his ability to link player with tidy but incisive passes belies his age and experience.
He created 43 chances for team-mates last season – a rate of one every 62 minutes. Meanwhile, 20 of his 33 shots arrived from outside the box.
Neither of those metrics suggest that we need to consider Hughes as a Fantasy option. However, there are factors that we do need to monitor.
Firstly, Hughes is likely to be priced at 5.0 or below – possibly even 4.5.
Watford also rotate superbly with West Bromwich Albion, a pairing that lends itself to partnering either two budget midfielders or a midfielder and a third forward. That will ensure the Hughes will be among those considered.
Interestingly, he has previously been outspoken about a move away from Derby, stressing that he would not settle for anything less than regular starts.
“Some players are comfortable sitting on the bench but I don’t like that at all. I can’t imagine that ever happening to me.”
That would suggest that, while he appears to share many qualities with Tom Cleverley – who also joins Watford permanently on July 1 – Hughes will still find a role in Silva’s revolution.
While last season’s budget revelation Etienne Capoue could be handed a deep-lying position by Silva, it remains to be seen how Hughes fits into the jigsaw.
Should he be given the freedom to exert some influence and flair in attacking areas with Silva signing or unlocking goals in his new side, then Hughes may yet become a budget consideration.
