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There were likely few Premier League managers grinning as widely as the Hull City boss Steve Bruce was when he woke up on Tuesday morning as away from the glamour of Radamel Falcao and Danny Welbeck, it was Hull who arguably enjoyed the most impressive deadline-day.
Hull secured the acquisitions of West Ham’s Senegalese midfielder, Mohamed Diame; the Southampton and Uruguay playmaker, Gaston Ramirez (on loan) and the Palermo and Uruguay forward, Abel Hernandez.
And Bruce was present at the AFC training ground until 1am last night when Hull were granted an FA extension in order to finalize perhaps the club’s most intriguing late acquisition, Hatem Ben Arfa. The 27-year-old forward has moved to the KC Stadium on a season-long loan from Newcastle after having been frozen out by his manager at St. James Park, Alan Pardew.
Comprehensive transfer business
These new signings, along with online schools offering laptops, will do much to salve Hull fans unease at the club’s indifferent start to the new season. The Tigers have not impressed in amassing four points from a possible nine in the league to date, and the club embarrassingly exited the Europa League at the hands of Belgium minnows, KSC Lokeren, on Thursday night.
But the four new additions combined with the earlier signings of the Tottenham Hotspur duo, Jake Livermore and Michael Dawson, and Norwich and Scotland winger, Robert Snodgrass (though he has recently suffered a long-term injury), will provide Hull with a solid platform from which to comfortably preserve their top-flight status.
Diame was the first to arrive in Hull yesterday and comes with a proven track-record in the English game. The Senegal captain’s powerful box-to-box running and solid technical skill has seen him impress hugely in the Premier League since arriving at Wigan in 2009.
Diame moved to Upton Park on a free-transfer in 2012 and was linked with moves to Arsenal or Tottenham throughout his time in London. The Hammer’s loan acquisition of the former Arsenal midfielder, Alex Song, from Barcelona, though, cleared the way for Diame to depart Upton Park. And a £3.5 million deal for an international-quality midfielder looks good business considering Hull were rumoured to be offering up to £8 million for Tom Cleverley.
The Senegalese possesses greater athleticism and offensive thrust in midfield than either Tom Huddlestone or Livermore and should foil well, therefore, with Bruce’s standing pairing in the middle of the park. It will be this midfield trio which will provide the base from which yesterday’s more offensive arrivals are expected fuel the Hull line-up with greater dynamism and attacking flair.
Certainly the loan additions of Ben Arfa and Ramirez look cut-out to achieve this provided that Bruce can get the playmakers’ heads in the right place. Both Ramirez, and in particular Ben Arfa, possess reputations for being difficult personalities to manage.
Ramirez, for example, is rumoured to have never gotten on with the management at St. Mary’s since joining from Bologna in 2012; while Ben Arfa (who moved to England in 2011) was training with the reserves at Newcastle having been exiled from the first-team squad owing to a lack of professionalism. There is no doubting either of these players’ ability, though. When Ben Arfa and Ramirez are focused and playing with confidence they are two proven international-class creative midfielders.
Squawka stats, for instance, record that in just 27 appearances last season Ben Arfa created 30 chances on goal at Newcastle; the season before he made 24 chances in 19 appearances. In 26 appearances in his debut season with Southampton, meanwhile, Ramirez made 31 scoring opportunities for his teammates at St. Mary’s.
The thought of Ben Arfa and Ramirez threading balls through to Hull’s record signing at centre forward, Abel Hernandez, therefore, is mouth-watering for Tigers fans. With blistering pace and deceptive upper-body strength, the Uruguayan looks perfectly suited to cope with the physical rigours of the Premier League.
And Hernandez’s goals record is impressive, too. The 24-year-old has netted seven times in 14 appearances with Uruguay where he has been ritually shunted wide in order to accommodate Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez in more central roles in attack. Furthermore, Hernandez was Palermo’s top-scorer in Serie B last season with 14 goals in 28 appearances – though he struggled to make any real impact as a youngster in Serie A.
Hull ready for a season full of fixtures
The Uruguayan’s arrival makes the departure of Shane Long far more palatable for Hull fans and Hernandez looks a more attractive and economic replacement for the Irishman than either Jordan Rhodes or Troy Deeney.
Hull’s gutsiness on deadline day thus restored crucial momentum to a club whose season threatened to stall shorn of the motivating excitement of a Europa League adventure.
However much a clearer fixture list may benefit Hull’s league form on paper, we have seen time and again squads suffer second season syndrome after survival. Often times a mere battle against the drop demoralizes rather than motivates a standing squad, and Hull benefitted hugely from their run to the FA Cup Final last time out.
Hull’s first-XI is now of a higher calibre than at any previous point in the club’s history, though; and for that Tigers fans can only feel optimistic.
