Hull City coach Liam Rosenior will ‘fight tooth and nail’ to keep star striker Oscar Estupinan as Premier League trio Everton, Nottingham Forest and Southampton chase the Championship hitman, speaking to the Hull Daily Mail.
What Estupinan appears to lack in consistency, he more than makes up for with the odd prolific purple patch. In 24 league appearances as a Hull player, the Colombia international has hit the net 12 times. An average of one in two.
Seven of those goals came during a remarkable fortnight in August, however. And, after finding the net just once during a 14-game barren run, Estupinan’s 98th minute equaliser against Huddersfield Town on Saturday was his fourth in four.
The likes of Everton, Southampton and Nottingham Forest, then, may have to take the rough with the smooth when it comes to Estupinan. Not that Hull are planning to let one of the Championship’s Golden Boot candidates leave without a fight, just six months after signing the 26-year-old predator from Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes.
“He’s not going anywhere,” says Rosenior. “I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep him here at the moment, in the form that he’s in.”
Southampton, Everton and Nottingham Forest like Hull’s Oscar Estupinan
According to the Hull Daily Mail, the number of clubs taking an interest in Estupinan has comfortably reached double figures. Ambitious owner Acun Ilicali has no plans to cash in just yet, however; Hull having pulled off a considerable coup when they lured Estupinan to Humberside after a prolific season in Portugal’s top-flight.
Colombian publication Las2Orillas claim that Everton are taking an interest in Yerry Mina’s free-scoring compatriot. AS throws Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth into the mix.
All four clubs are prioritising attacking reinforcements this month. And Estupinan, an old-school poacher who comes alive in the six-yard box, now has 42 goals in the last two-and-a-half seasons alone.
“A good quality striker has his own qualities,” says Rosenior’s Hull predecessor Shota Arveladze. “He needs balls in the 18 (yard box) and he’s good there. He scores his goals and makes more points for us.
“They call him ‘Pichichi’ in Spanish; that’s someone who is chasing all the time around the (box) and having headers, moving the central defenders.”
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