Coventry City could break their transfer record by the weekend as they stepped up their bid to sign Moroccan international Mustapha Hadji.

Chairman Bryan Richardson is in France today to open personal terms talks with the 27-year-old who was one of the stars of last year’s World Cup.

A £4 million fee has been agreed with his current club RC Deportivo de la Coruña but Richardson admitted today that there is still a lot of work to be done before Hadji becomes a City player.

He said:

"At the moment we are some distance apart but that is always the case with these things and we will just move closer during the talks."

Meanwhile City won the second game of their German tour, chalking up a 2-1 win over Karlsruhe.

John Eustace opened the scoring when he stabbed home a corner from Gary McAllister in the 39^th minute but the home side hit back seconds before the break.

Darren Huckerby, who has impressed throughout the pre-season training, scored a trademark goal after shaking off two defenders to score 21 minutes from time.

Manager Gordon Strachan was delighted with the result, and the performance.

"They were not a bad side and Magnus Hedman had to make a couple of saves. It was a good workout for us and we came through well. I was pleased for John, and it is a big season for him. He has got to make more effort to really affect games and that is what he must concentrate on.

"Darren has been first class. You could see from the first day back that he was determined to do better than last season.

"I have given the players and staff the day off today because they have worked so hard."