Stoke rejected Norwich bid for Walters, says Hughes

ByReuters

Published 24/08/2015 at 07:24 GMT

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes believed there was a bit of "mischief" behind Norwich City's bid for Jonathan Walters being leaked ahead of their 1-1 draw against the Canaries in the Premier League on Saturday.

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The forward missed the trip to Carrow Road due to illness and Hughes' later confirmed he had rejected a bid for the 31-year-old, which British media reported to be in the region of 1.5 million pounds ($2.4 million).

"He (Walters) knows my feelings -- we want him to stay. Norwich did make a bid but it was nowhere near our valuation of what Jon gives us, so that was sent back very, very quickly," Hughes was quoted as saying by British media.

The manager also said it was "predictable" that news of the bid for the former Ipswich Town forward would be leaked before the game.

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"That was a bit of mischief, if I'm honest, that's probably what it was," the 51-year-old Welshman added.

"It happens -- I have probably been guilty of it myself in the past so I'm not going to be holier-than-thou and criticise Norwich for that."

Walters and Stoke are in the middle of negotiations over a new contract, with the forward in the final year of his current deal. Hughes said the club were likely to let the striker leave for free in the summer if an agreement could not be reached.

"He wants a bit more in terms of length of contract, that's fair to say, but we hope we can come to an agreement," the manager said.

"If he doesn't sign, then we will probably just keep him and run his contract down."

($1 = 0.6386 pounds)

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