de Jong bid accepted

Hamburg have agreed to sell their Dutch international midfielder Nigel de Jong to Manchester City and have said that the decision now rests with the player agreeing personal terms with City.

"The two clubs have reached agreement," the Hamburg spokesman Jörn Wolf said today. "Now de Jong has to agree with Manchester City."

Wolf would not disclose any further details but the German media have speculated that Manchester City may be willing to pay as much as €20m (£18.15m) for the 24-year-old player.

>>guardian.co.uk

What is interesting regarding any bid we have made is that the BBC are reporting that he has a clause in his contract that allows him to move from the club this summer for a fee of just £1.5 million.

Although the amount we are paying is in a sense no longer relevant, if it is true we are paying around £15 million extra just to secure him in January is maybe a sign that Hughes feels he really does need a strong second half of the season, and de Jong will be integral to that.