'There was conversation': Portsmouth's Rich Hughes on truth behind Leicester and West Brom's unsuccessful Josh Murphy pursuit
The Pompey winger was linked with interest from Leicester and West Brom late in the window
Rich Hughes admits Pompey had to deal with late transfer window interest in star man Josh Murphy.
Yet, while Leicester were involved, the sporting director is adamant there was no official bid - and neither was one encouraged with the winger’s departure ‘never on the agenda’.
While the Fratton faithful feared losing the 30-year-old in the final days of the window, Hughes insists the club were entirely comfortable with the developing situation.
Indeed, he claims the exit of a player under contract with the Blues until the summer of 2027 wasn’t even considered.
Instead, Pompey focused on bolstering their squad with the deadline day signings of Joseph Bursik, Mackenzie Kirk, Franco Umeh and Conor Chaplin - while Murphy remained.
Hughes: ‘It was never on the agenda’
Speaking for the first time about the situation, Hughes told The News: ‘Josh is a key part of what we are building here. He’s a quiet leader, has incredibly high standards, had an incredibly high return on his playing numbers last year and is a player we want to be part of this group for a long period of time.
‘There was some conversation around potential bids, however a lot of what was spoken about in the press never actually materialised. It was never on the agenda for the football club to sell Josh.
‘He is part of what we are doing, he has been here a year. Even if some of the things that potentially materialised and were being bandied around in the press came in, we felt it wouldn’t have been at a level which would have been of any interest for us to part with one of our key operators and key personalities around the building.
‘There was a lot of reported interest from Leicester, but that never actually presented itself in terms of an official bid, so that side of it never really happened.
‘I cannot comment - in terms of official capacity - how that interest manifested itself, but we would have expected there to be interest.
‘He was a top-end Championship performer last year and, in my opinion, and probably shared by a lot of neutrals as well, he was wrongly overlooked in terms of being in the team of the year given what he achieved and the consistency in which he did it.
‘Josh is a big part of what we are trying to build here, a big part of John's plans and a big part of the club’s plans. We want to find a pathway for Josh to stop here as long as possible.’
Reports of £2m bid from Leicester
According to some reports, Leicester made a £2m bid for Murphy late in the window, while West Brom were also linked, sparking fears the 1-0 victory over Preston may have been his Fratton farewell.
Although Hughes insists no bid was officially received, he insists it would have taken a fee ‘far superior’ to the figure claimed to land the ex-Norwich man.
Even then, he concedes it would still have been too late to replace him at that stage of the window.
Hughes added: ‘The market dictates what a player is worth and a player with a significant amount of goal involvement last year would command a far superior fee than the one reported.
‘Our plan all the way through the window was to make sure we ended up stronger - and keeping Josh was just as key as bringing the four players in on deadline day to strengthen the group.
‘Besides, how to replace him would have been the first line of the conversation if anything presented itself. If it gets too late, teams aren't able to replace, and that would have significantly damaged what we had spent a lot of time building over the summer.’