No bids received for Hunt, insists Coppell

THERE was confusion about the future of Irish winger Stephen Hunt last night with some reports claiming the Reading had accepted a bid from Wigan for the player, a claim denied by Royals boss Steve Coppell.

The former Brentford midfielder is believed to have a clause in his contract that allows him to speak to any club that is prepared to offer £5 million (€5.3m) and the Latics have reportedly tabled a bid of that figure.

Wigan boss Steve Bruce is a known admirer of Hunt and has money to spend after selling Emile Heskey to Aston Villa for £3.5m (€3.7m) yesterday just two days after Wilson Palacios moved to Spurs for a figure of around £14m (€14.8m).

Hunt has been vocal in his wishes to return to the Premier League, despite Reading manager Coppell’s reluctance to lose one of his key players as the Royals try to win promotion back to the top flight.

And Reading insisted last night they have had no bids for the player.

Royals manager Steve Coppell branded the reports as “speculation” he could do without ahead of his side’s top-of-the-table clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night.

“We have had no bids received from Wigan or nobody else – it is total speculation,” Coppell insisted.

“He is a Reading player and that is why he is training with us today.

“To be fair to him, he has made his desires known, but he fully realises that he has a challenge here and he is fully committed to that challenge.

“It is what I said before the transfer window in that I would prefer not to comment on speculation but when the speculation is so blatant and in your face, then you have to respond but it is a waste of air as far as I am concerned.”

Everton, who failed in a bid to sign Hunt in the summer, and Tottenham are also believed to be interested in the Reading winger, who is understood to have a preference for a move to Goodison Park.

The 27-year-old joined Reading from Brentford in 2005 and has made a total of 129 appearances for the Royals, scoring 15 goals in his time there and has a contract that runs until the end of the 2010/11 season.