Thursday 25 September 2014 16:13, UK
Steve Bruce says Hull City are close to reaching an agreement with Blackpool over a fee for Tom Ince.
Ince left the Seasiders after his contract ran out in the summer, but his former club is entitled to compensation because he is under 23.
Talks have been ongoing since July when the winger joined Hull on a two-year deal and Tigers manager Bruce said the chairmen of both clubs are trying to come to an agreement without the matter having to go to a tribunal.
He said: "I do believe that our chairman and the chairman of Blackpool are trying to get together before we go into the realms of committees and setting fees and all the rest of it.
"As far as I know, the two are likely to meet this week I believe - whether that's this week or next week I'm not sure."
Bruce was still smarting after Hull's Wednesday night defeat to West Brom in the Capital One Cup. The Tigers were 2-1 up at the Hawthorns until the Baggies scored twice in the last three minutes to progress with a 3-2 win.
Frustrated by his side's recent defensive frailties, Bruce nevertheless admitted he may consider allowing England Under-21 centre back Harry Maguire, signed from Sheffield United in the summer, to go out on loan.
He said: "I don't think there's any benefit in letting him go back to Sheffield United, and the one thing I've said to Harry is 'look if there's not enough game time for you then we will look to then maybe put you out on loan'.
"It's something that I will look at for a few players. You can see last night people need games and sometimes it benefits them - with Matty Fryatt we did it fantastically well last year - he went out to Sheffield Wednesday and played six or seven games, then came back and did very, very well.
"It's something that we may look at. At the moment I'm just delighted that Harry is with us, getting used to playing in the training regimes. He's only a young boy - the future's very bright for him - he's just going to have to be a little bit patient."
One positive from Hull's cup exit was the chance to see Hatem Ben Arfa on the pitch for a full 90 minutes.
The Frenchman was an outcast at Newcastle before sealing a loan move on transfer deadline day and a much-changed Hull team for the cup gave him a chance to play.
"There's no question he can pick a pass, he's got fantastic ability," said Bruce, "but we also have to bear in mind he hasn't really played since last February, which is a hell of a long time.
"He might have a part to play on Saturday but there's a lot to do with his levels of fitness and he's still got a lot to do before we let him loose on the Premier League.
"It would be wrong of me to ask him to play two (full) games in four days when he hasn't played one in seven months."
