Paul Ince admits he would have liked to have signed Stephen Hunt, but the salary demanded by the player resulted in Blackpool ending their interest in him.
The Republic of Ireland international is currently a free agent, having left Wolverhampton Wanderers upon the expiry of his contract at the end of last season. He is keen to return to a club at Championship level at least, and Ince offered him the chance to impress.
Hunt spent time training with the Seasiders, and it looked as though he would be handed a contract at Bloomfield Road. However, Ince has now revealed that the 32-year-old’s wage demands made it difficult for the Lancashire club to offer him a contract.
“The demands which he made were ridiculous for someone who’d only played the last 10 games at Wolves,” the former England star told The Gazette. “He doesn’t have a contract anywhere and has been training alone in Ireland, so the demands were ridiculous so we left it.
“I spoke to the chairman and we decided we didn’t want to pay that sort of money. If they weren’t asking for so much it would have been done weeks ago. We thought Stephen Hunt would be a good addition to the club. If the demands would have been lower we’d have done the deal.”
As much as Ince would have liked to count upon the services of Hunt, his side are coping fine without him. A 2-1 win at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon maintained their unbeaten start to the season, and they lead the Championship on goal difference after six matches.
