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Coppell won't sell Hunt

Image: Hunt: Interesting Sunderland

Steve Coppell is unhappy with Sunderland following a £2.5m bid for Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt.

Reading boss disappointed following bid for midfielder

Steve Coppell is unhappy with Sunderland following a £2.5million bid for Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt. The Republic of Ireland international is one of Roy Keane's top targets for the transfer window as he looks to keep Sunderland in the Premier League. Reading swiftly rejected the offer for Hunt earlier this week and Coppell insists the club have no intention of cashing in this month. The Royals manager is also disappointed that news of Sunderland's bid for the 26-year-old has reached the public domain.

No favours

"There is no way that Stephen will be leaving the club," Coppell told reporters after the New Year's Day defeat to Portsmouth. "What does he give us? Everything. He is typical of what we are about. "He was a free transfer from Brentford and has something to prove on a game-by-game basis. He has been one of our better players for the last 18 months. "There has been a bid. But I'd like to go back to the old way of doing business where you phone people up and that verbal communication is the end. "Their making the bid public didn't do me any favours. I would like to think that when we do business it will still be done in the old-fashioned way."