Will Hughes: Crystal Palace set to win race for Watford midfielder

The midfielder is on the cusp of a move from Watford

Watford’s Will Hughes is joining Crystal Palace (PA Wire)

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has lauded the ability of Will Hughes with the Watford midfielder on the cusp of a move to Selhurst Park.

Hughes, 26, is undergoing a medical at Palace on Friday as he looks set to join from their Premier League rivals.

Vieira is yet to win since taking charge of the Eagles and saw his side knocked out of the Carabao Cup with second-round defeat at Watford on Tuesday.

Now they look set to land Hughes, with Vieira happy with what he feels the former England Under-21 international will bring to his squad.

“He is a player that we know quite well,” he said of Hughes. “He’s really comfortable on the ball and is a really good link with the players going forward.

“I’m really glad, I’m really pleased to have him in the squad, obviously he’s not going to be ready for tomorrow.

“So we’re looking forward to working with him in the international break so he can be ready and starting to meet his team-mates before for our next game.”

He's really comfortable on the ball and is a really good link with the players going forward

Patrick Vieira on Will Hughes

While Hughes will add options in midfield, Vieira remains keen to add a striker to his ranks before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, having yet to see Palace score under his management.

He refused to comment on further links with a move for Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah but knows he needs more firepower.

“This is something that we identified a couple of weeks ago,” he said on the eve of Palace’s trip to West Ham. “We knew that it would be important for us to reinforce that department, to have more options.

“So the window is still open and we’re trying to improve that department and anything can happen. We are working hard to try to improve the squad, it is really difficult to go into names because those players are in the football club under contract.”

Vieira revealed captain Luka Milivojevic will not feature at the London Stadium despite returning to training having missed the first three games of the season due to personal reasons.