William James Hughes (born 17 April 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Crystal Palace.
Having graduated a scholarship with Derby County, Hughes made his first team breakthrough during the 2012–13 season; his performances resulted in him earning attraction from multiple clubs across Europe. Hughes made his move to the Premier League with Watford in 2017, helping the Hornets reach the FA Cup final in 2019 and maintain top-flight football for three seasons. Following Watford's relegation in 2020, Hughes played a central role in their promotion campaign the following season.
Club Career
Derby County
Hughes made his debut for the club's reserve team as a 70th minute substitute in a 6–1 Central League win over Walsall on 22 September 2011 and made two additional appearances in the Central League Cup. It was his "outstanding" performance in a 1–0 win over Port Vale reserves in the competition on 1 November which brought him to manager Nigel Clough's attention for possible inclusion in the Derby first-team squad against Peterborough United four days later.
Hughes made his full debut for Derby as a 90th-minute substitute for Jamie Ward. Despite entering the match late with the scores level, there was still time for Hughes' first-team debut to end in defeat as a 94th-minute goal saw Peterborough win 3–2.
After Derby midfielder Paul Green, who was out-of-contract at the end of the season, rejected a contract offer, Clough dropped him and promoted Hughes to the first-team squad as his replacement for the penultimate match of the season at Portsmouth. Hughes started the match on the substitute's bench and came on in the 68th minute, replacing Theo Robinson in a 2–1 win. Hughes started his first match for the senior team in the final match of the season, a 1–1 draw against Peterborough United. Hughes' performance match earned praise from Derby manager Nigel Clough. At Derby's awards night, Hughes won the Scholar
This page also has a version in other languages : Уилл Хьюз (russian)