Hughes' JT plea

Big news emerging on Tuesday evening: a new stage in our move to sign John Terry. A very public plea made by Mark Hughes on Tuesday, discussing the potential motivations for Terry to come to City. How much of this was an attempt to persuade Terry, and how much to defend and explain MCFC in public I'm not sure. But it's certainly something that Hughes does not tend to do during transfer negotiations (via Ian Herbert in the Independent):

"From my own experience, when you have been with a club a long time, you maybe get to a point when you need a new challenge, when you think a change of scenery would just reignite certain things within you," Hughes said.

"It is not a question of money it is about a different challenge, a different stage in his life and career, and maybe that is why there hasn't been a response because John is seriously thinking in those terms. I went through that process myself and I can understand if that is the way he is thinking. We would like to think we could offer John Terry a different challenge."

I don't know whether this means that we're more or less likely to sign Terry, or whether it will help push the deal's likelihood in either direction. But it's fascinating to hear Hughes confident enough to speak in these terms publicly.