Top target: Liverpool are chasing Will Hughes (Picture: Getty)

Liverpool are poised to win the race for highly rated Derby midfielder Will Hughes, with the club set to lodge a £6million bid this week.

Hughes is considered one of the best prospects in England, and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to bring him to Anfield this summer.

Arsenal, Chelsea and even Manchester United have all been linked with the 18-year-old, who has already racked up nearly 50 first-team appearances.

But it is Liverpool who lead the race, with Rodgers ready to bid after sending chief scout Dave Fallows to check on Hughes during the England Under-21s’ win over Scotland last week.




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Watching brief: Liverpool scouts watched Hughes against Scotland (Picture: Getty)

The elegant midfielder impressed in that match, and the talk on Merseyside is that a £6million bid will go in within days.

Derby have always maintained that they want to keep the player, but manager Nigel Clough confessed over the weekend that he might go if the price is right.

‘There is interest but at the moment nothing is happening with Will,’ said Clough.

‘But at the end of the transfer window anything can happen.’

Hughes still has three years left on his contract at Pride Park after penning an extension last summer.

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