Hull City’s director of football operations Adam Pearson says the Tigers are yet to receive any enquiries regarding Town loanee Jimmy Bullard. Blues boss Paul Jewell recently said that he had spoken to his former Derby colleague about the 32-year-old Town Player of the Year and also that he understood that there was interest from other clubs.
Pearson is desperate to offload the two remaining years of Bullard’s £45,000-a-week contract, which accounts for 21% of his club’s wage bill, and is hoping that the midfielder’s performances for Town attract some interest: "He's obviously done well down at Ipswich, he's played some games and hopefully that gets him back in the shop window.
"Hopefully, we will get a club interested in him. That hasn't happened as yet. We've had no enquiries whatsoever."
Jewell, who worked under Pearson during their time together at Pride Park, recently said that he had spoken with the Hull chief and was under the impression that other sides, including Premier League clubs, had shown interest.
QPR have been linked on a number of occasions, while Wigan and West Ham were claimed to be amongst Bullard’s suitors in one paper, prior to the Hammers’ relegation on Sunday. One somewhat spurious looking report over the weekend claimed interest from Coventry.
Pearson also dismissed Bullard’s claim last week that he had taken a pay cut to join the Blues on loan in January: "His wages are obviously very, very high but no professional footballer takes a pay cut.
"I keep hearing about pay cuts but I've never heard of that in my life. I don't understand why a player would take a pay cut.
"He's got another two years and that has a value to it so I'm sure that any player wouldn't be leaving for a penny less."
Previously, Pearson was in disagreement with Town regarding the level of Bullard’s wages the Blues were paying during his time on loan.
Hull are reportedly willing to allow Bullard, who cost them £5 million from Fulham in May 2006, to move on for free if his new side take on what remains of his contract in its entirety. It's unlikely that any Championship club would be in a position to do this.
As reported last week, another loan is also an option, although Hull are likely to want to exhaust all other alternatives before looking in that direction.
Town would probably prefer to do a permanent deal with the Blues paying a fee which would go towards the Tigers settling the remaining two years of the one-time England call-up’s contract, something which could be a possibility if Bullard is, as he says, willing to take a pay cut.
Meanwhile, Exeter City are likely to be keeping a close eye on developments regarding the Blues’ chase for Doncaster midfielder James Coppinger.
When the 30-year-old joined Rovers from the Grecians for a fee which eventually rose to £35,000 in 2004, a 15% of profit sell-on clause was included in the deal.
Last Friday, Doncaster chairman John Ryan confirmed that his club had turned down Town's £300,000 offer for the midfielder and also a £2.3 million bid for striker Billy Sharp.
Coppinger was a team-mate of Blues coach Sean McCarthy during the early part of his career at St James’ Park.