Hull City face a huge fight to keep loanee Nick Powell at The KC Stadium on a permanent basis according to the Manchester Evening News.
The 21 year old joined Hull City on a loan deal from Manchester United until the end of the season during the January transfer window. The youngster joined The Red Devils from Crewe Alexandra in summer 2012 in a deal reported to be worth up to £6 million but the player’s career progression has been hampered by a number of injury problems.
Hull City Manager Steve Bruce is a huge admirer of the former England Under 21 international but admits that he would face a tough challenge to bring the youngster to the club on a permanent basis with Manchester United Assistant Manager Ryan Giggs a known fan of the young striker.
“Manchester United have kept their options open and because he’s under 24 they can do” Bruce said when speaking to the Hull Daily Mail.
“I don’t know if they’ve closed the door on him or not but maybe the key is what he does here between now and the end of the season.”
“Mick Phelan knows him well and, of course, I spoke with Ryan Giggs at length about him.”
“It’s fair to say that Ryan really likes him as a player. He’s only trained three times so we’re still seeing how he is physically. We have to manage him because it would be wrong of me to just throw him in if he’s not ready.”
“He will enhance us, I’m sure of that. He’s already shown us in training why people have paid big money for him.”
“You only have to watch him for a short while. He handles the ball well, he’s 6ft 2in, he’s quick, he’s got a lot of attributes that make a very good player.”
Powell has not yet featured for Hull City since his loan move from Old Trafford but the player is building up his fitness and being eased in gradually with The Tigers and could be set to make his City bow within the next couple of weeks.
