Hull City boss Nigel Adkins says the Tigers will decide whether to take up their one-year option on striker Will Keane’s contract at the end of the season.

Keane has spent the second half of the season on loan with the Blues, scoring three goals, with owner Marcus Evans having spoken to the 26-year-old’s representatives about a permanent move to Portman Road.

“I saw Will before the game,” Adkins said when asked about Keane’s situation following his side's 2-0 victory over the Blues on Saturday.

“We played him at Leeds, our last away win [2-0, in December], he played the 90 minutes there and to be fair to Will he needed to go and play football.

“Fraizer Campbell had been our mainline striker, so Will hadn’t figured that much so it was important for him because we’d got Fraizer Campbell, Chrissy Martin, Nouha Dicko and Will Keane, they were the four strikers and we’ve only been playing with one central striker.

“So it was important for Will, he’s still under contract with us, there’s still an option in the club’s favour if they want to renew that, but it was important for him to go and play some football.

“So he’s come here and it was great to see him score a couple, I think it’s the first time he’s scored two goals in a season for a long, long time because he’d obviously been out injured with his knee.

“It’s just such a shame that he’s picked up his hamstring injury, but hopefully he’ll be back fit next week or somewhere close to that and will get some more games before the season finishes and then who knows what happens after that.”

Quizzed on whether any discussions had taken place regarding taking that option, he added: “No, we’ll just see what happens come the end of the season if that makes sense.”

Keane, who has made only eight league starts and 14 sub appearances, scoring once, for Hull since joining them from Manchester United in August 2016, is expected to be back in the Town squad for Saturday’s trip to Bolton.

The Mancunian, who recently switched international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland, his father’s country of birth, has made seven league starts for the Blues and one sub appearance - as well as one more game from the bench in the FA Cup - scoring those three goals.

Photo: TWTD

algarvefan added 08:55 - Apr 2 Never mind about loan players, we need to ensure we keep 'our' best players for next season, hold the nucleus of our team together, inject some youth to go with the experience and try and sign a striker who is big, strong and can find the net. He is out there we just need to find him. It's not Keane in my opinion.
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norfolkbluey added 11:24 - Apr 2 Blueboy 81 Couldn't agree more. I've been banging on about this for an age now. NC scouting system has paid them dividends with free transfers and low fees for players. We must start looking back at the way we did business in the late 70's and eighties. Go abroad for some hungry players who do not cost high agent and transfer fee. I am of the opinion we need some experienced players to add to our squad to bring on the young talent we have. We can't afford that from our country but they are out there on the continent. If we had had a player like Pukki who didn't cost a fortune we wouldn't be going down. What we need now are some european scouts who know their business. There are so many countries to choose from including Poland Germany and the Balkans. So come on Marcus and Co support Lambert properly and widen our horizons!

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Orraman added 11:25 - Apr 2 As much as I like Will Keane's style of play when he is fit and firing, I just think his injury record is too risky. As Blueboy states above there must be gems in Europe. Who had even heard of Pukki before he surfaced at Carrot Rd? Remember Shefki or even Taricco, although he was not European he was still an unknown. Gus Uhlenbeek etc etc.... They are out there so perhaps PL's knowledge of German football and possible contacts abroad might just mean he has a few ideas in the pipeline to bring in new faces for a lot less money. I know we have unearthed a few turkeys from abroad in the past...one goal wonder Priskin, Le Pen to name but two but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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Warkys_Tash added 12:30 - Apr 2 In other words Adkins thinking, can they sign him up & then flog him to us. Just what we should have done with MacG
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