Blues boss Paul Hurst says Derby are still to reach Town’s valuation for striker Martyn Waghorn despite having joined Sheffield United in making a bid but admits that all players have their price.

The Rams are understood to have offered the Blues a fee which ultimately could total £8 million after clauses but with the initial sum only £5 million.

Sheffield United, who have since ruled themselves out of the race, made an offer of approaching £5 million - presumably also including some further clauses - three weeks ago which was flatly turned down by the Blues.

“There have been bids, not only from [Derby], Sheffield United made a bid but unless anything’s changed that I haven’t been made aware of, nothing’s been at the values which I’ve seen reported and nothing’s at a value that I think can make us seriously consider that,” Hurst said following today’s Open Day at Portman Road.

“Maybe people would say that I shouldn’t say that as a manager, but I’m not stupid, everyone has a price. But at the same time, I don’t think we’re there yet, so there’s not anything to really consider.

“It’s a difficult situation, there’s no getting away from that, it’s not ideal, for the player, the football club, for me as manager, but it is football and we know it happens.

“At the minute, my advice to Martyn is that he’s got to be professional, he’s got to get on with it and make sure that if something does happen, what he doesn’t want to do is slip backwards in terms of his levels of performance for if he ended up elsewhere. And if he stays here, he needs to be ready to contribute greatly as we know he can.”

Hurst admits that ideally he’d like the matter sorted sooner rather than later: “The ideal scenario is that but at the same time we just spoke about a valuation. Just because I’d like it resolved doesn’t mean we’ll go, ‘Oh, we’ll take less money then’. That’s not the best decision for the football club and moving forward.

“It’s got to be right. I know there’ll be fans who will be saying, ‘It doesn’t matter what we’re offered, we can’t let him go’, they’ll want him here. I get that but we’ve got to do what’s right and best for this football club.

“I think we all understand where we’re at in the league that we’re in and unfortunately there are people out there with a lot bigger chequebooks, budgets so that if someone does come in and do really well for this football club, we’re going to be open to that.

“What I’ve got to try and do is somehow have a little bit more success and just create the best environment we can to try to maybe make it still more appealing to play here and play football.”

Hurst says his talks with Waghorn, who trained with the rest of the squad at Portman Road earlier this afternoon, will remain private.

“We’ve had more than one conversation,” he added. “I’m not going to say what Martyn said. I think if he chooses to do that, it’s down to him but those conversations will remain private and I’ll ask people to respect that.”

Middlesbrough are also still believed to be very keen on Waghorn, while Birmingham are also eyeing the situation and Nottingham Forest have been linked.

Photo: TWTD

Blue_Again added 14:25 - Jul 26 commence moaning supporters
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MeenoITFC added 14:30 - Jul 26 @Blue_again .....
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OwainG1992 added 14:32 - Jul 26 Happy enough with what I'm reading here. Glad we ain't being bent over a barrel regarding Waggy. Basically give us the right amount here and now or no deal. The way it should be.
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TheDailyTractor added 14:33 - Jul 26 This could be resolved with a better contract. Hurst is right it has to be good for the club aswell. If they don't meet the valuation then foxtrot Oscar. I personally think it will be Middlesbrough that will be the ones to really make us think
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StringerBell added 14:34 - Jul 26 As is usual with PH, this all seems entirely sensible. If someone meets our valuation and pays what we want pretty much all in one go then we will consider whether it is best for the player and the club that he leaves. Let's hope that the matter is resolved soon and that ALL the funds are released to PH to strengthen what has to be one of the smallest squads seen at Portman Road in a long time. We need quality and depth and we need it quickly.

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TimmyH added 14:35 - Jul 26 Feels like this episode has run on longer than War and Peace...really quite tiring, in fact trying to remember if another Town player has had so much transfer exposure since I've been on TWTD (since 2009).
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Ipswichbusiness added 14:36 - Jul 26 If I understand it correctly, the club's attitude can be summarised as, "We want to keep him. We are not under any pressure to sell. If you want to buy, you have to pay our valuation." That seems to me to be perfectly reasonable.
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SouperJim added 14:36 - Jul 26 Can't say much more really can he, we don't want to sell but neither can we hold on to him if someone offers serious money considering he only has 1 year (plus an option) left on his deal. Thankfully Waggy is keeping his mouth shut and just getting on with being our player, these chairmen at other clubs could learn a little decorum from him.
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Currie10 added 14:59 - Jul 26 A ' please bid higher ' article if I've ever seen one.
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BobbyBell added 15:08 - Jul 26 A read it more of a "if you are going to bid higher then please just do it or go away". Hurst wants him to stay but accepts that there is a value that we would have to consider. He just wants to put the matter to bed either way.
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BlueBlood90 added 15:11 - Jul 26 Well it's pretty clear that Waghorn has made it clear to him that he wants to leave but without the formal written request. Otherwise, surely Hurst or Waghorn would just come out and say that he wants to stay? It needs sorting ASAP but if we don't get the valuation we want then Waghorn will have to like it or lump it I'm afraid.
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hadleighboyblue added 15:19 - Jul 26 We are quite right to look for something that reaches our valuation , don't fall for all this 50% now and the rest when they get promoted …………..we all know that Derby blow out after Christmas , so we could end up with just 50%. We really need Waghorn's situation sorted , before we end up with another Murphy situation with a panic buy or expensive loans which are just a short term fix . It is looking likely that he will go

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Umros added 15:28 - Jul 26 Too right as well. If you want him pay the asking price (up front) or do one!. Loads of silly money transfers so why should we not want a decent fee. Hang in there Town.
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blueoxford added 15:36 - Jul 26 Waghorn is keen to go (and secure himself a great contract) otherwise we would have been told that he doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want to say that otherwise he will lose his loyalty bonus. As long as we have learnt our lesson from the Murphy saga (i.e. Have a definite replacement lined up) this could work for everyone concerned Ps I don't want Waghorn to leave

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 15:38 - Jul 26 There is nothing more than PH can do or say in this situation. Again, he comes over as someone who says it exactly as it is. I don't read it as a "please bid higher" article. Rather, a "we all know everyone in football has a price, but we don't want to sell so if you are really serious you will have to do much better" article.
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Lightningboy added 15:42 - Jul 26 lol...comes to something when your player's heads are getting turned by the likes of Derby & Shefield utd.
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grinch added 16:20 - Jul 26 why do people assume waghorn has said he wants to leave he is keeping his mouth closed and being professional and correct in his manner maybe a few posters on here could take a leaf out of his book and stop making wild assumptions let the club do the business
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blueplumber added 16:25 - Jul 26 It is just me or am I missing a major point here. We lost Murphy last minute and was told we couldn't get anyone in time to replace him. We are already hearing it's very hard to buy players for right money??? Whatever that is. I can just see it happening all over again. But after only scoring 1 goal in all of our pre season I don't think we can afford that luxury
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dubblue added 16:27 - Jul 26 We need to be practical about this and see if he is part of our long term plans - if yes we should look at offering better terms. With one year left on his contract there is bound to be speculation until 9th August. I hope we do not sell him, agree if we get 'serious money' (£8M?) we may have to sell but what does that say about our ambitions for promotion and what if it is too late to secure a permanent replacement? As noted above we do not want to repeat the Murphy saga.

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runningout added 16:37 - Jul 26 He's worth over £9m.. Would be shame to see Waghorn go but hey ho
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crazyblue68 added 16:40 - Jul 26 Get on with it Evans, we dont want to end up with a team of other peoples loanee cast offs
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mib added 17:06 - Jul 26 Anyone noticed that our two greatest messiahs/ saviours Keane and McCarthy got rid of both Rhodes , not good enough, and Marriot ,to fat, and they finish up being worth millions. Thank heavens that they are both long gone, Keane and McCarthy that is. Has McCarthy got a job yet?
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Gingerblues added 17:19 - Jul 26 This has last day written all over it. I think the club needs to come out and say they won't sell him at any price on the last day or if there isn't time to get a replacement.
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FenboyBlue added 17:21 - Jul 26 Sometimes it feels like every other team in the division has far more money to play with than us. It seems everyone else has parachute payment money to burn. Well if that's the case then we should only sell at prices well above fair valuation. If we settle for fair prices then we lag even further behind the parachute clubs in assembling a decent team. We have to stop this 1-step forward, 2 steps back approach to building a team every time we gain a vital first team player like Waghorn. I hope he wants to stay.

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Hiltzkooler added 17:22 - Jul 26 How is McCarthy's fault re Marriot.....he tried to give the lad every opportunity to perform...marriot did not perform on loan (over the total period), not consistently enough to break into the first team in the U23.....he returned unfit and uninterested.....if McCarthy could have squeezed half tuppence from a sale he would have done....the lad started to shine at Luton but tap into the luton fans at the time and see what they were saying....he wasn't deemed a huge loss....he goes to Peterborough and does well.....good for the lad....one might say the change was the enabler for Marriot to step up....but don't agree, at all that McCarthy is to blame....lots of other aspects of his tenure agreed!

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