BREAKING NEWS: Hull City chief explains excellent ace change of heart as striker arrives from….

The 24-year-old Irishman is back at City hoping to reignite his career

Hull City head coach Liam Rosenior has explained why the club have swooped to bring back Aaron Connolly to the MKM Stadium on a permanent deal from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Connolly spent the second half of last season on loan at City and started brightly, scoring a brace against QPR before suffering a freak injury at Stoke City which brought a frustrating – and premature – end to his campaign.

Initially, City made it clear they wanted to pursue a deal for Connolly, but Rosenior explained how he had opted to go in a different direction earlier in the summer.

It was then revealed during the club’s trip to Turkiye at the beginning of July that talks had reopened, and now, Connolly will become the fourth signing of the transfer window so far having been at the MKM Stadium on Saturday to see City held by French Ligue 1 side Nantes in their final friendly.

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“Without going into too much detail, and I’m not being disingenuous or lying but Aaron was always in my thoughts,” Rosenior said when asked what had promoted the change of course. “It’s about timing. I don’t want a big squad, Benjamin Tetteh leaving enables us to have Oscar, Aaron and Liam as our strikers.

“I know a lot of people want us to make signings, but I’m so confident with those three as my strikers. All different types of strikers, all with different qualities but all outstanding at this level.

“I’m really happy with this squad, I’ve maintained with the chairman (Acun Ilicali), Tan (Kesler), we just need to add in the right areas and that’s a great place to be.”