Football League World rounds up the latest transfer news in East Yorkshire as Liam Rosenior continues his preparations.
Liam Rosenior is continuing his pre-season preparations ahead of his first full season in charge of the Tigers.
After drastically improving the squad’s fortunes since taking charge of his first game on November 5th, Rosenior is looking to build on the club’s eventual 16th place finish.
The 39-year-old has been extremely meticulous in his planning for the upcoming season, with the main focus being around players who can add value to an already experienced and talented core, but can also maintain their fitness levels as City saw many key players sidelined for long periods of the season, which dented their creativity – only hitting the back of the net 51 times across the 46 Championship outings.
He has already added further to his attacking ranks with the signings of Jason Lokilo from Sparta Rotterdam and Liam Delap from Manchester City.
Football League World rounds up the latest transfer activity at the MKM Stadium, with the Tigers’ opening day trip to Norwich now only two weeks away.
Vinagre deal concluded
A transfer which has been in the pipeline for quite some time was Rosenior’s pursuit of Sporting CP left-back Ruben Vinagre.
It has been no secret that this area of the defence needed bolstering after Callum Elder was released at the end of his contract, added to centre-back Jacob Greaves filling in on the left flank on numerous occasions.
The Portuguese makes the move to East Yorkshire on a season-long loan after only making a total of 18 appearances for his permanent club, ironically in his initial loan spell from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It is his time in the West Midlands which many fans will be familiar with, having made 69 appearances for the Molineux outfit, including 13 in his first season when Wolves took the Championship by storm under Nuno Espirito Santo. He also had a loan spell at Everton last season, but was limited to just two outings.
Rosenior has already spoken about the 24-year-old’s addition to the club website.
“Rúben has been our first target at left-back for a long time now. He’s got unbelievable pedigree, won promotion at this level and played numerous games in the Premier League,”
We want players who have been at the level we’re aspiring to and I’m delighted we’ve been able to bring someone of Rúben’s calibre to the club.” The Tigers boss added.
What is the latest on Hull City trialist George Cox?
Another left-back who could be added to the Tigers ranks is 25-year-old George Cox.
Having impressed in Hull’s two domestic friendly successes over Grimsby Town and Barnsley, Cox looks set to continue his initial trial with the club in their next outing on Saturday afternoon against Bradford City.
He is a free agent after his contract at Eredivisie outfit Fortuna Sittard expired, but has been on Rosenior’s radar for a number of years, having come through the ranks during his time at Brighton and Hove Albion. The City boss was quick to address his situation after the most recent friendly, as per Hull Live.
“Coxy did what I expect him to do. I’ve known him since he was a really young player at Brighton and he went to Fortuna Sittard and scored goals against Ajax, scored goals against PSV,”
“He’s a good footballer. I expect it from him. It’s a great opportunity for him to come and show what he can do at a really good club at a really good level and we’ll assess him as we go and make a decision as a football club what it looks like.”
Will Aaron Connolly make a permanent move to East Yorkshire?
Another man with previous connections to Rosenior’s time at the South Coast outfit is Irish forward Aaron Connolly, who’s future remains very much undecided.
Having made an impression with supporters and head coach in the infancy of his loan spell in the January transfer window – particularly after scoring twice in a 3-0 victory against QPR – Connolly would not feature again for the Tigers due to both injury and illness.
