The mood inside Hull City’s cramped, slightly old-fashioned, training ground at the end of a narrow lane in the quiet, leafy, village of Cottingham was highly charged yet sunnily optimistic. Steve Bruce spent hours closeted in an office with the club’s owners, Assem Allam and his son Ehab, closing a series of deals capable of ensuring that Monday 1 September 2014 would be remembered as the most dramatic 24 hours in Hull’s transfer history.
By early afternoon Abel Hernández , the Uruguay striker, had joined from Palermo for a record-breaking £10m and Matt Wild, the secretary, was fully occupied processing paperwork relating to the £3.5m acquisition of West Ham’s Mohamed Diamé.
Around the same time Sky Sports News showed pictures of Hatem Ben Arfa leaving Newcastle United’s training ground. The richly gifted, if high-maintenance, France international pointed his car towards the city’s airport but he was merely heading for the nearby upmarket enclaves where many of Alan Pardew’s players live.
It seemed Ben Arfa had successfully resisted Pardew’s attempts to off-load him to Besiktas or Birmingham and was probably bound for some shopping at his local Waitrose en route home.
Undeterred, Newcastle’s frustrated manager instructed his board to “do whatever it takes” to move on a player he had exiled from all first-team involvement following disputes about long-ball tactics, fitness and work-rate . Soon afterwards a phone rang in Cottingham.
By timely coincidence Bruce was hankering after another attacker or two capable of getting behind defences in the style of Shane Long, the forward sold to Southampton earlier this summer. Hull’s manager explored the possibility of recruiting Marseille’s André Ayew before eventually opting to take Southampton’s incisive but injury-prone Uruguay international Gaston Ramírez on a season-long loan.
At the end of a summer also featuring the permanent signings of Jake Livermore, Michael Dawson, Tom Ince, Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire and Robert Snodgrass many coaches might then have called it a day but, particularly with a knee injury sidelining Snodgrass for six months, Bruce had a nagging sense something – or someone – was missing.
Even so it was starting to get dark by the time Ben Arfa began the three hour journey south. A motorway delay and a detour via York dictated the 27-year-old did not arrive at Cottingham until almost 11.45pm, by which time Hull had obtained a two-hour deadline extension from the Premier League. At 00.57am they finally announced the signing.
The ensuing anger and disappointment of those Newcastle fans to whom this quintessential No10 had become a cause célèbre testifies to the high-risk nature of Pardew’s strategy - and the scale of the opportunity open to Bruce.
Dubbed “a genius” by Gérard Houllier, his former coach at Lyon, Ben Arfa delights in deconstructing the best defences. Admittedly this unfulfilled talent requires subtle handling but Bruce has always regarded man-management as his strong suit while it is hoped the ability of Hull’s Egyptian owners to speak to Ben Arfa – whose parents are Tunisian and who is very bound up in his North African heritage – in Arabic will further help him settle into a side suddenly packed with pace, power and creativity.
The Allams’ obsession with re-branding the team as “Hull Tigers” remains contentious but Bruce could hardly wish for more supportive owners as he endeavours to compensate for last week’s surprise Europa League elimination.
With £40m (a £25m net spend) invested in squad refurbishment he can survey what Phil Brown, one of his predecessors, labelled the training ground’s “War Room” and feel equipped with more than adequate weaponry for an assault on the top half of the Premier League.Still only 24, Hernández represents a marquee addition, possessing a healthy record of seven goals in 14 appearances for Uruguay and one virtually every three games at Palermo. “Abel’s arrival highlights just how far Hull have travelled in a short space of time,” reflected Bruce.
Culture shock must be overcome but the integration process at a club which 11 seasons ago were playing in English football’s bottom tier should be accelerated by the presence of Hernández’s compatriot Ramírez.
While Diamé promises to complement Tom Huddlestone’s measured passing with midfield dynamism, Dawson – keen to prove a point to Tottenham – should bolster the defence. With Ince adding intricate invention and Robertson impressive in a left-sided defensive role following his £2.85m arrival from Dundee United, Hull look very well balanced – not to say in serious danger of being glamorous.
