WEST Ham’s Thierry Nevers is expected to join City to soften the blow at losing Tyreik Wright.

A report on the Premier League club’s website, which was then deleted, claimed that the 20-year-old winger was signing on loan.

Nevers is a pacy left-sided wide man who can also play down the middle like Wright. He has recently returned to the Hammers after spending the first half of the season on loan at Newport.

“We’re making strides to bring good players in,” said City boss Mark Hughes. “We think we’re close to bringing maybe one or two.

“We’ve not confirmed those yet but we’re confident in the next 24 hours we should progress towards that end.

“I’m not going to count chickens yet but that’s our intention.

“You have to pre-empt certain circumstances. There was the situation that Tyreik could take the option and leave us, so we have to protect ourselves and make sure key positions in the team are filled with the right talent.”

Wright was recalled by parent club Aston Villa ahead of making a permanent move to League One leaders Plymouth - which was announced this evening.

City had been working hard to nail him down on a full-time deal and Hughes revealed how close they had got before Argyle’s interest blew them out the water.

He added: “It’s really only accelerated in the wrong direction for us in the last few days. We thought it was very close.

“It’s disappointing but the reality is he’s got the opportunity to go to a club in a higher league. Villa are going to be recompensed for him doing that.

“He made a real impression here and was doing well. We felt he was progressing and we made an offer to him ourselves.

“But obviously the interest of the other club was made known and it became very difficult for us to match what was on offer.

“It’s a football decision clearly as well. He wants to play higher - we’d hoped it would have been us, but we accept that’s always a possibility with loan players.

“He was a big part of the good start to the season we’ve had. But we’ll make sure we get other players in that compensate for his loss.”

Wright's deal was announced as "long term" by Plymouth this evening.

"He'll give us some more strength in depth, some more speed at the top end of the pitch and some directness," Argyle boss Steve Schumacher told BBC Radio Devon.

Nevers made five starts in his 15 appearances with Newport, scoring once against Harrogate.

But he found opportunities limited after Exiles boss James Rowberry was sacked and replaced by Graham Coughlan.