Former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp has paid tribute to Derby County midfielder Will Hughes, branding the England Under-21 international "the Mesut Ozil of the Championship".
Hughes missed the majority of the 2015-16 campaign with a serious knee injury, but has returned to the fold this season and played a key role in Derby's 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend.
Redknapp has picked out the 21-year-old as a star player in the second tier of English football and challenged the playmaker to keep progressing in a bid to secure a move to the Premier League.
"One player who caught my eye outside the top flight this weekend was Derby midfielder Will Hughes. He is the Mesut Ozil of the Championship and was brilliant in Derby's 3-2 win at Wolves," Redknapp wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
"He is a great talent – very easy on the eye with a fantastic range of passing – and Premier League scouts must be watching him every week. Hughes is looking back to his best after a cruciate ligament injury which saw him miss most of last season.
"The challenge now for the 21-year-old is to grab his chance and show that he has the physicality to make the step up to the top flight."
Hughes, who has previously been linked with a move to Liverpool, made his Derby debut as a 16-year-old in November 2011.
Matt Law
