Tigers Transfer Talk: Hull City keep Huddlestone while Hendrick and Bobadilla are linked

Here comes another round-up of all of the past week’s transfer stories involving Hull City.

The Tigers’ players return for pre-season testing on Monday ahead of a trip to Portugal for warm-weather training so it was always likely that things would start to get settled regarding the manager’s position and the out-of-contract players.

Sadly, the ownership remains the great unknown with rumours flying around and the situation seemingly changing on a daily basis. What we do know is, the Allams still own the club and while that’s the case – the atmosphere remains fractious.

26^th June

In a story right out of left-field, AfricanFootball.com say The Tigers have “jumped to the head of the queue” to sign Nigerian striker Umar Aminu from Osmanlispor in Turkey. They add that Besiktas have had a bid rejected for the 21-year-old but fear he will struggle to get a work permit to play in England.

It’s hard to know how reliable some of these “specialist” websites are. For instance, the site focusing on Egyptian football, Kingfut, is very good but some of the Italian football sites tend to spout utter rubbish. Watch this space, I guess!

27^th June

The Mirror claim City are interested in Augsburg striker Raul Bobadilla. The Argentina-born Paraguay international, 29, is a powerful striker who has been back and forth between clubs in Switzerland and Germany for most of the last decade. His scoring record isn’t great in the Bundesliga but he’ll help make opportunities for a natural finisher and at a rumours £5m – he’s a hell of a lot cheaper than domestic options!

According to the Daily Star five clubs have expressed an interest in loaning Manchester United striker James Wilson. The 20-year-old had a loan spell at Brighton last season and the Star say the promoted trio of The Tigers, Burnley and Middlesbrough plus relegated Aston Villa and their rivals Birmingham City want to take him this season.

28^th June

The Telegraph ran a story online on Steve Bruce’s future, suggesting it remains undecided and any transfer business is on old amid speculation over that and the future of the club’s owners. A small line did suggest that once Bruce’s future is sorted, he’ll make Derby County and Ireland midfielder Jeff Hendrick a target. Hendrick impressed many with his performances at Euro 2016 though he is currently awaiting trial over a violent incident in Dublin when a man was left with a broken jaw after a confrontation with a group of men including Hendrick – allegedly.

According to the Derby Telegraph, Hendrick is also wanted by Middlesbrough and Galatasaray.

30^th June

Steve Bruce has been touted as potential England manager since the national team crashed out of Euro 2016 to Iceland on Monday. With the threat of that hanging over him, Bruce today committed his future to City! The doubts over the ownership remain with the rumour-mill still suggesting American and Chinese investors are in talks with the Allams but Bruce will stay in spite of that according to a statement on the official website – the first statement of any note made by the club in weeks.

On the transfer front, “Steve Bruce” said “We plan to make improvements to our squad in the coming weeks and a transfer budget and wage structure has been set by the Board for the new campaign. It is simply not correct that I have been told I cannot sign any players as reported in the media this week. We are already looking at potential targets in order to strengthen the squad.”

City U21 skipper Max Clark will return to Cambridge United on loan for six months. The midfielder had a short spell under Shaun Derry last season and will now serve a longer stint on loan. Max has long been touted as a potential breakthrough star at the KCOM Stadium after being involved with the England youth sides as a 16 year-old left back and the move into midfield has stunted his progress somewhat. Now 20, this is a big opportunity for him to show off his always impressive appearances in the “reserves” in senior football.

You’ll notice a lot of loan deals going through in the next few weeks lasting until January. This is because the football league is no longer allowed to sanction “emergency loans” outside of transfer windows. Clubs have to manage with what they have on September 1^st. Although free agents can be signed at any time as always.

1^st July

After all of the speculation, we actually got a confirmed transfer today! First broken by ESPN in May, AFC Wimbledon goalkeeper Will Mannion, 18, joined City on a three-year deal. The fee will be decided by tribunal as the clubs were unable to agree a settlement.

Mannion’s arrival into the U21 setup at City allowed Rory Watson to complete a season-long loan move to new National League side North Ferriby United. This has been doing the rounds for a while so was clearly dependent on that Mannion deal.

There was more good news as Tom Huddlestone followed Eldin Jakupovic and Ahmed Elmohamady in signing a new contract with City – Tom will stay until 2018.

One player not joining City is released Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher who signed for Sheffield Wednesday. That’s an injury-prone bullet dodged.

Hatem Ben Arfa, who left City in disgrace after a disastrous loan spell from Newcastle in 2014, has transferred from Nice to PSG. Ben Arfa was a fat, lazy mess at Newcastle and wasn’t much better during his short time in Hull. His stint hardly got going and was doomed after he infamously covered less distance in a game at Old Trafford than Allan McGregor – who is, of course, a goalkeeper. He’s been re-born at Nice and had been linked with moves to Barcelona, Chelsea, Leicester and Southampton before deciding on Paris.

Another ex-Tiger, Danny East, was on the move today joining Leeds-based National League side Guiseley after his release by Grimsby. He’ll be joined there by North Ferriby’s best player last season Ash Palmer. A real blow for the Villagers.

Tigers Transfer Talk: Is Robbie Brady a Hull City target?

A weekly round-up of Hull City transfer rumours and assorted news. It's been a quiet week.

Ryan Mason of Spurs and, one-time, England.

Friday 17^th June 2016

City are in talks with Josh Tymon over a first professional contract that would tie him to the club for the long-term – or as long-term as anything in football gets these days – according to the Hull Daily Mail. Left-back Tymon made his debut as a 16-year-old last season and is being watched by some big clubs who are regulars at the club’s U21 games.

The HDM also believe that young Wimbledon goalkeeper Will Mannion will arrive this summer with the compensation due being the sticking point. It will go to tribunal if no agreement is reached.

The Daily Star claim Norwich have “slapped a price tag” of £12m on Robbie Brady. I’m still unconvinced that there is anything in any link with City and at £12m – there’s even less chance.

Lee Gregory was linked with The Tigers before promotion was secured. Today’s Daily Mail link him with Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Celtic. In fact, Celtic have been mentioned with just about every player City are said to be interested in this summer. So either both clubs are favourites of the agents who spread the rumours or we have the same scouting team.

Thursday 16^th June 2016

West London Sport claim QPR want Arsenal’s ex-Tigers loanee Isaac Hayden and that City themselves have indicated that they’d like to keep him. This presumably refers to the comments Steve Bruce made about buying Hayden back in January. They don’t say whether it’s on loan or permanent transfer that QPR are pursuing and while they suggest other clubs are also interested in the midfielder- they don’t say who they are either.

The Yorkshire Post ran an article referring to Hull City fans looking on enviously at Middlesbrough. I thought it would refer to envy over their stable ownership, manager who knows where his future lies, the recruitment they’ve already started with two signings and the fact they don’t charge children the same as adults to watch games! Alas, it was just about the fixture list for next season.

Wednesday 15^th June 2016

The Times says Robbie Brady is a target for Premier League Champions Leicester City (that still sounds weird). This comes on the day the Premier League fixture announcement handed Leicester a trip to face City at the KCOM Stadium on the opening day of next season.

City have been given a tough start which also includes Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal at home plus trips to Swansea, Burnley and Liverpool in the first seven games. A first ever top flight encounter with Bournemouth will take place on October 15^th, while 17^th December brings our first trip to the Olympic Stadium. The festive period will bring Man City and Everton to Hull on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve while the first game of our City of Culture year in 2017 will be away at WBA. Spurs at home is the final fixture.

Back to transfer news and after his quotes about Premier League interest on Tuesday, The Sun suggests Burnley and Bournemouth want Sone Aluko.

Tuesday 14^th June 2016

A report in the Hull Daily Mail suggests Abel Hernandez is wanted by Roma and Watford. There’s nothing to this story at the moment but it says plenty about the money available to Premier League clubs these days that Roma and Watford are mentioned in the same breath.

Ex-Tiger Sone Aluko told AfricanFootball.com that he’s had plenty of interest in signing him on a free transfer. Aluko said “There are interests in the Premier league, the Championship and also from abroad.”

City also announced their first pre-season fixtures. Normally the first sighting of any new signings, City will play six away games in July against lower league opposition and are expected to then play a European team away at the start of August.

Fri 15th July 19:30 - Grimsby Town (a)

Sat 16th July 15:00 - North Ferriby (a)

Tue 19th July 19:30 - Mansfield Town (a)

Sat 23rd July 15:00 - Scunthorpe United (a)

Tue 26th July 19:30 - Barnsley (a)

Sat 30th July 15:00 - Nottingham Forest (a)

Monday 13^th June 2016

The gossip column in the Yorkshire Post linked Robbie Brady with a return to Hull City – a year after he left for Norwich. I can’t find any reliable source for this one so I’m putting it down to wishful thinking.

Sunday 12^th June 2016

According to The Mirror, City are interested in signing Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason. Bournemouth and Stoke are also linked with the one-time England international who’d command a fee of at least £5m. He certainly wouldn’t be the first player to join City from White Hart Lane in the Premier League – if there is anything to this story.

Sheffield Wednesday are the latest team to be linked with Steven Fletcher after his release by Sunderland. City, Aston Villa and Celtic were said to be interested last week.

Tigers Transfer Talk: Weekly Hull City round-up, Steven Fletcher linked

It's time for another weekly round-up of Hull City transfer rumours. Most of it will be nonsense but we love it anyway!

(C) Express

Saturday 11^th June 2016

It was suggested by @TransferCentreL yesterday but appears in today’s Daily Record - City are interested in another released player – ex-Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher. The Scot has been linked time and time again since Steve Bruce became manager so this isn’t unexpected. According to the report though, Celtic lead City and Aston Villa in the “race” for his signature.

Friday 10^th June 2016

Nick Powell was officially released by Manchester United and the twitter account @TransferCentreL reports City, Wigan, Leeds and Blackburn want to sign him on a free transfer.

Thursday 9^th June 2016

The law of the transfer window states that Hull City or Norwich City must be relegated and the one that is has to sell a top player to the other. According to the usually unreliable HITC, that player this window is Ryan Bennett. The former Grimsby centre-half, 26, joined Norwich from Peterborough in 2012 for around £3m. Middlesbrough and Celtic are also rumoured to be interested. The BBC website suggested Middlesbrough had made an enquiry but not the others.

Wednesday 8^th June 2016

HITC speculate on the future of Nick Powell today. Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and his one-time temporary home Wigan are amongst the clubs said to be chasing him on a free transfer from Manchester United. City were linked last Sunday.

Tuesday 7^th June 2016

The Mirror make an obvious link today. City are said to keen to bring back former Tiger James Chester from WBA. Chester has never settled at Albion after his £8m move last summer. He was rarely used by Tony Pulis and when he was, it was often at right-back. Swansea are also interested in the Welsh international who should cost less than that previous £8m price tag but a hell of a lot more than the £300k it cost Nigel Pearson to bring him to City in the first place.

The Mirror article also claimed City are interested in Will Grigg. See below for the reason behind this nonsense!

Monday 6^th June 2016

It used to be a challenge to separate the transfer rumours from the real stories. Nowadays the challenge is even working out what is a real rumour. The terrible HITC carried a speculative story on the future of Wigan striker Will Grigg this morning. They mentioned that City were 16/1 to sign him. That’s a massive price that is indicative of nothing whatsoever. The Hull Daily Mail then carried the story on their website, pure “clickbait”, with no context whatsoever. It then appeared on the Nottingham Post and Yorkshire Post amongst others. No doubt that will lead to a spate of bets being placed and the odds will tumble. Then it will become a story. Modern journalism, eh?

Sunday 5^th June 2016

The Bristol Post report that Bristol City are trying to turn striker Lee Tomlin’s loan from Bournemouth into a permanent £2.5m move. The Post say a bid has been lodged but it has not officially been confirmed by either club. They also say that Hull City, Newcastle and Norwich have been admirers of the player. City have been linked with Tomlin in several transfer windows so this is likely to be old news – as is this story, it was published on June 2^nd but has gone under the radar.

The Sun and the Daily Star both report that City want to sign Nick Powell on a permanent transfer. The 22-year-old midfielder-cum-forward joined Manchester United from Crewe for an initial £4m in 2012 but it hasn’t worked out at Old Trafford and despite his loan spell with The Tigers being a complete waste of time this year – the papers say Steve Bruce wants to keep him.

Also in The Sun, released City striker Sone Aluko is rumoured to be a target of former City manager Nigel Pearson’s Derby County.

Saturday 4^th June 2016

The Hull Daily Mail carried a rumour linking City’s 21 goal striker Abel Hernandez with Fiorentina. I’ve done some digging and the rumour appears to have started a few days ago on Italian football website Calcio News 24. There’s no substance to the story whatsoever with the only justification being Fiorentina’s new director of sport Pantaleo Corvino’s admiration of Hernandez. I’m sure lots of people admire him – it doesn’t mean they’re getting him!

The Express link Hull City, Brighton, Celtic and Rangers with 30-year-old Newcastle defender Steven Taylor. Barring a loan with Wycombe, Taylor has spent his whole career with Newcastle and has represented England at all levels but fell just short of a full cap. He may have progressed further but a career blighted by injury means he has only ever managed to play thirty league games in a season once. Perhaps for that same reason, he’s not a very good defender – as is always the case when you get a player whose key attributes are said to be loyalty or bravery. Hopefully this is nonsense.

Radio Humberside’s David Burns poured cold water on the Oliver Norwood rumour on Twitter suggesting it was a fabrication by an agent. Burnley are favourites to sign Norwood.

Tigers Transfer Talk: A round-up of Hull City rumours

Welcome to the first round-up of the Hull City rumours this summer!

There are bound to be many players linked with City this summer - some more likely than others -  and I'll round up the best Tigers related gossip weekly. As always, you can use the "Transfer Rumours" link at the top of the blog to see every player linked with City since February and even a few ex-Tigers on the move.

Pic: Reading FC

Friday 3^rd June 2016

Hull City have held talks with the representatives of Reading midfielder Oliver Norwood according to the Reading Chronicle. The Manchester United youth product joined the Royals from Huddersfield in 2014 for a “significant fee” and the Chronicle speculates that a fee of at least £1.5m will be required to buy the Northern Ireland international. Norwood’s hometown club, Burnley, and Celtic are said to be tracking him also.

Thursday 2^nd June 2016

The Tigers announced their retained list for the upcoming season. Sone Aluko and Ryan Taylor have been released by the club and I presume Calaum Jahraldo-Martin either has been too or has agreed a deal to stay at Leyton Orient because the statement didn’t mention him. Tom Huddlestone and Ahmed Elmohamady have been offered new contracts while Eldin Jakupovic will stay after the club activated the one-year extension on his contract.

Taylor joined City last summer after being freed by Newcastle and while his well-documented injury problems were a worry, he stayed injury free but still failed to make any impact on the first team. He managed just one league start, on the opening day of the season, but slotted in to the second string side generally wheeled out for cup games. He’s a good guy who deserves a bit of luck in his career but he’ll go down as one of the more pointless City signings.

Aluko came on a free transfer in 2012 after Rangers collapsed financially and for six months looked likely to go down in Tigers’ folklore. In that first half of the 2012/13 season, there wasn’t a better player in the league. He scored memorable goals against Millwall and Wolves and finished a beautiful team move at Bristol City. His best performance came at one of his former clubs as he scored twice and generally ripped the Birmingham defence to shreds in a 3-2 victory (after City had raced into a 3-0 lead inside 30 mins). He was the catalyst for a free-scoring City team put together on a budget by Steve Bruce – who’d managed Sone as a kid at Birmingham.

Sadly, Aluko suffered with injury and only played a handful of games after the St Andrews demolition and though City were promoted, it was based on a tight defence because the goals dried up. Aluko returned for the Premier League season and scored his best goal for City with a stupendous volley in a 3-2 in at Newcastle but he was injured at Everton by a disgusting challenge from Gareth Barry, when Sone had been having a storming game, and never found the same form on his return. He’s spent two and a half seasons trying and failing to recapture the magic but it hasn’t really happened for him.

Aluko did appear in the 2014 FA Cup Final as a substitute, which will etch his name in City’s history, and should really have bagged an equaliser to force a penalty shoot-out. What a moment that would have been. Instead he was reduced to occasional moments of importance, the winning goal against AS Trencin in the Europa League, a fine equaliser at Everton in the Premier League and goals against Fulham and Forest, one a winner, the other an equaliser, that were almost crucial this season.

It’s obviously the end of the road for Aluko who needs to go and play regular football when he’s clearly not going to get it for City in the Premier League. He leaves behind some great memories but the sense of disappointment that he never reached his potential in black and amber.

Wednesday 1^st June 2016

According to ESPN, City have “won the race” to sign AFC Wimbledon for 17-year old goalkeeper Will Mannion. They claim that Stoke and Liverpool are amongst the teams interested in the stopper who has recently trained with the England U18 squad. As well as the investment in local youngsters coming through the club’s academy, City have been busy scouting, particularly in the South, for talent to add to Tony Pennock’s U21 side and if Mannion is signed, he’ll add to the likes of Jahraldo-Martin, Greg Luer, Johan Ter Horst, Adam Curry and Jarrod Bowen who have been bought in for little outlay from lower league and non-league clubs.

Tuesday May 31^st 2016

If you thought Chelsea and Barcelona being linked with ex-Tiger Hatem Ben Arfa was ridiculous – wait for this one. The Glasgow Evening Times suggests Celtic and Rangers are ready to battle for former City loanee Danny Graham, who is about to be released by Sunderland. At least Ben Arfa has appeared revatalised by his move to Nice. Graham, who has managed 15 goals in three and a half years since his £5m move to Sunderland (just one for the black cats and only one for City), looks the same shell of a player he always appeared in black and amber.

Monday 30^th May 2016

Sheffield Wednesday and Ireland ‘keeper Keiren Westwood is a target for four Premier League clubs according to the Daily Mail. Our fellow newly promoted side Middlesbrough are strongly linked with The Tigers, Everton and WBA credited with an interest in the 31-year-old who they say will command a transfer fee of £3m.

The Daily Mail also carried quotes that poor cold water on any link between Robert Snodgrass and Celtic. Snodgrass spoke of City’s “terrific” supporters and his “brilliant” teammates and said he has “loved every second” of being at Hull City.