McCarthy has scored 16 goals in his first season in England and is the third highest scorer in the Premiership. Alan Shearer is the last Blackburn player who have managed to score that many goals in a Premiership season.
Hughes told The Sun: “Benni’s got a goal tally that hasn’t been achieved at this club since Alan Shearer.
“That shows how long Blackburn Rovers have been looking for a quality striker like Benni who is able to score on a regular basis.
“They are saying Berbatov is worth £30m — so from that you can do the maths on how much Benni is worth. Berbatov has had a great season — but not as good as Benni’s.
“I say that because Benni didn’t cost anything like as much money and he has scored a lot more league goals.
“If you look at the list of Premiership goalscorers, he’s third with 16 and Berbatov is way down with 10.”
Sparky added: “He’s not getting sold — there are no clauses in contracts this year. There will always be people checking but he’s not available full stop. I’m sure people have been asking indirectly and interest registered.
“But I get that every summer. I had to knock back interest in all my good players last summer and I expect the same. We’re not in a position to spend vast amounts of money on transfer fees but we’re not a selling club either. We don’t have to sell anyone because we’re a top-eight club.”
