'It's absolutely huge' - Claim made on Hull City's Charlie Hughes amid Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace talk | OneFootball

Charlie Hughes has become a wanted man after many stellar performances for the Tigers

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Despite progressing through a second and final transfer window with well-documented restrictions, the winter window couldn't have panned out much more successfully from Hull City's perspective as the Tigers continue to fight for promotion.

City were hit with a two-window transfer fee restriction in Sergej Jakirovic's first pre-season at the MKM Stadium, but that hasn't hampered their overall fortunes, as well as the calibre of players they have been able to add to the Bosnian's squad throughout the Championship campaign.

It was a case of six players in and five players out for the Tigers throughout the now-closed winter window, with James Debayo, Paddy McNair, Toby Collyer, Kieran Dowell, Yu Hirakawa and Lewis Koumas adding further depth and quality, whilst Brandon Williams, Harry Vaughan, Kasey Palmer, Joel Ndala and Enis Destan all departed.

However, after being able to retain his services in the summer amid intense transfer interest - which followed on from a stellar first season in East Yorkshire - it was imperative for Hull to still have the highly-rated Charlie Hughes among their number, as they look to achieve a first promotion to the Premier League since being relegated nine years ago.

'Huge' claim made as Hull City retain Charlie Hughes amid Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace interest

After fending off three bids from Coventry City in the summer window, as well as interest from Sheffield United, the Tigers' previous £3.5m buy became the subject of interest from promotion rivals, Middlesbrough - as was exclusively revealed by Football League World - and Crystal Palace, who saw Marc Guehi leave for Manchester City.

However, the 22-year-old will continue to ply his trade at the MKM in the short-term, at least, in what has been described as a "huge" boost for Jakirovic by FLW's Hull City fan pundit, Cameron Gibson.

"It's absolutely huge that Charlie Hughes has chosen to remain at Hull City," he said.

"I think a lot of the links are from the outside. It's fairly obvious that he's a great player, he's a great young English centre-half with a lot of natural ability, and he's now being coached in a way that's making him even more effective and he's producing fewer mistakes.

"But, I do think a lot of the transfer noise was from the outside, and I don't think there's been any disruption to Charlie and Hull City throughout the January transfer window," Gibson added. "He's had his head screwed on, he's been focused.

"Obviously, Middlesbrough are a rival to us right now. Knowing the owner (Acun Ilicali), there's not any part of me that thinks he would sell to a rival. Acun isn't in football to make money. He's in football to achieve his dream and success, which is to get Hull City to the Premier League, to establish Hull City as a Premier League club and maybe one day get them into Europe.

"I don't think he's up for making a quickbook through football, whatever the amount may be. I don't think he's in for that. He's spending 12 million pounds every single year. That's not including wages or anything. That's just purely the cost of running the club with investment year-to-year with PSR and other things. We've got one of the highest wage bills in the league and our squad is as strong as any other in the Championship," Gibson explained.

"So, for Charlie Hughes, he must see the quality around him. To jump ship in the middle of a season, I don't think that would be the best idea for him. I think for himself, he'll obviously be looking at getting to the Premier League, whether that's with Hull City or whether he takes an offer in the summer.

"But, I don't think it was ever on his mind to want to leave Hull City in January. He's playing every minute of every game. He's performing 8 out of 10, 9 out of 10 every single game, and Hull City have strengthened in January.

"We've signed some amazing players under these restrictions, so I just think the links were from journalists who just wanted to make a quick story that would get clicked. I don't think there's ever been any substance behind it.

"Charlie Hughes is vice-captain. He's never said he wanted to leave publicly. He's never showed on the pitch that he's not happy. If anything, he showed on the pitch how committed he is with his celebrations with the fans after games and with his posts and his comments on Instagram," our fan pundit continued.

"He's so involved and he's so behind what we're doing. So I just think it was noise from the outside and, realistically, Middlesbrough and Coventry - and other clubs like that - never had a chance at getting him in January. If a top Premier League club came in for him, I'm sure he would have considered it. But, unless he was going to be guaranteed game time, I don't think it would have made sense for him to leave in January.

"For Hull City, it's a huge boost to have a player of his level so committed and performing better and better every single week. It's a huge asset, especially when we're now going to be approaching the run-in.

"A player like Charlie Hughes is so valuable, and with John Egan next to him, an experienced defender that's played however many games in the Championship, I don't think there's many better to learn from."

Hull City's stance on Charlie Hughes has been well-known for some time

It is pivotal for City that they were able to retain both Hughes and Egan, with the latter also the subject of late interest from Ipswich Town and West Ham.

The Tigers' defensive record has been much-improved in recent weeks, with the duo a key reason behind such feats, as they recorded successive clean sheets for the first time under Jakirovic against Blackburn Rovers and Watford.

Furthemore, Hull's stance on Hughes has been made clear for some time, with Jakirovic stating in August that his next move would be to the Premier League, and that the club value him in excess of £20m, and that could still increase if he continues to perform to such a high standard in the season's final 16 matches.