With Jaden Philogene calling time on his Hull City career after just one season, the Tigers could have a replacement already waiting in the wings.
Jaden Philogene set for Hull City exit
Whilst few wanted to see Philogene leave this summer, the theatrics surrounding the 22-year-old's departure left many glad to see the back of the player by the time he left.
Whether it was Ipswich Town's audacious double swoop for both Philogene and his Hull teammate Jacob Greaves, or the 22-year-old's agent doing uninvited photo shoots outside Barcelona's office, what started out as a simple transfer story quickly descended into a soap opera.
With the winger deleting all traces of the Tigers from his social media last week, it appeared that the saga had now drawn to a close and much like a soap opera, the conclusion felt a little bit underwhelming.
Whilst the battle for Philogene waged on in the foreground, his former club Aston Villa sat patiently knowing that they reserved the right to match any offer that came in for the player. This meant that when Ipswich Town submitted an £18million bid for Philogene, the Villans jumped at the chance to poach the player for themselves.
Thanks to the 30% sell on fee inserted into the transfer that initially brought Philogene to Hull, the Villans only actually needed to hand over around £13.5million to get the deal done. With last season's main attacking spark now gone, the Tigers may not need to look far to find a replacement.
Could Abdulkadir Omur become the Tigers' main man?
Whilst Philogene's departure will no doubt leave a void in City's side, the 22-year-old's exit could open the door for Abdulkadir Omur to become the Tigers' main outlet in attack.
Arriving as a part of Acun Ilicali's January shopping spree, Omur found himself in the shadow of fellow winter arrivals Fabio Carvalho and Anass Zaroury. Despite being limited to cameos in his early days at the MKM Stadium, an assist in February's victory over Huddersfield Town saw the 25-year-old finally make his mark in black and amber.
The remainder of the campaign saw Omur establish himself as a vital part of Liam Rosenior's squad with the Türkiye international starting 11 of the final 14 games of the season. Speaking after Omur set up a goal in April's 3-0 win over QPR, the former Hull manager sang the 25-year-old's praises:
"Some of our interlinking play now is a joy to watch because the players are understanding each other. Abdus [Omur] has been a major plus point, outstanding performances from him."
Over the final games of the season, Omur was able to make the right wing position his own, relegating the aforementioned Zaroury to a place on the bench. Whilst Omur failed to find the back of the net during this time, the 25-year-old still stood out for his quick feet and excellent linkup play.
After performing well in an otherwise disappointing end to last season, the question will now be whether Omur can step up and replace the outgoing Philogene as the focal point of the Tigers' attack.
Can Omur replace Philogene next season?
As he is yet to register a goal in his Hull City career, it would be a tall order to ask Omur to replicate Philogene's 12 goals last term. Despite this, there is a possibility that the 25-year-old could replace the winger as the Tigers’ main man in the final third.
With new manager Tim Walter arriving at the MKM Stadium with the promise of fast flowing attacking football, it could be Omur that holds the key to the success of this new look City side. When looking at their stats per ninety minutes there are many areas in which Omur's output comes close to matching or even betters that of Philogene.
As shown in the table above, Omur is able to go toe-to-toe with Philogene in most creative aspects of the game. With Omur putting up these stats in a team stacked with attacking talent, it is safe to say that he'll only improve on these numbers when he is his side's primary creative outlet.
Most interesting is the similarities in the percentage of each player's shots that end up on target. Even though the Türkiye international takes around two less shots per game than his former teammate (1.36 compared to 3.69) it is promising to see that Omur is still testing the keeper with quality efforts.
Despite spending much of last season as a right winger, Omur also enjoyed spells playing through the middle meaning he could be a versatile option for Walter next season. With Ozan Tufan also leaving the club this summer, the German could decide to utilise the 25-year-old as the furthest forward midfielder in his preferred 4-3-3 formation.
Whilst the net has yet to ripple during his time as a Hull City player, next season could see Omur enjoy a breakout season and allow the Tigers faithful to quickly get over the loss of Philogene.
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