“It is bizarre” – Hull City fan pundit reacts to Oscar Estupinan transfer decision
The Tigers let last season’s top scorer Oscar Estupinan depart for Metz on deadline day – a decision which has seemingly split the fanbase
Hull City has had a strong start to the Championship season and currently sit sixth in the table after a big win over Leicester City.
The club made some eye-catching transfers in the final week of the window, but also saw striker Oscar Estupinan depart on loan to Metz.
Although Estupinan was the club’s top goalscorer last season, his departure makes sense as he may not fit well with coach Liam Rosenior’s style of play, and the loan deal could bring in a significant loan fee and potential buyout fee.
This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Hull City have had a great start to the 2023-24 Championship season and going into the first international break they sit sixth in the table following a big win over Leicester City this past Saturday.
Before that victory over the Foxes though, the Tigers committed to some eye-catching transfer business in the final week of the window, with the likes of Jaden Philogene, James Furlong and Tyler Morton all arriving at the MKM Stadium.
There was also some surprising outgoing news at the club though with striker Oscar Estupinan departing on a loan deal to French top tier side Metz.
The 26-year-old, who signed on a free transfer from Vitoria de Guimaraes last summer, was the subject of some late transfer interest in La Liga, but it is Ligue 1 where he has headed to and has linked up with another ex-City player in Benjamin Tetteh, who completed his Metz move earlier in the window.
Metz will reportedly have the option to purchase Estupinan for €5 million (£4.27 million) if he performs well enough, and he departs Hull – at least temporarily – having scored 14 times in 41 appearances.
Should Hull City have let Oscar Estupinan depart for Metz?
FLW’s Hull fan pundit Ant Northgraves believes that despite Estupinan being the club’s top goalscorer last season, a departure made sense in some ways for the Colombian – even though there are reservations over the amount of depth that Rosenior now has to work with at the top end of the pitch.
“It’s a strange one the Oscar loan because Championship clubs work really hard to find a striker who’s capable of scoring 10, 15 or 20 goals a season and we seemed to have that with Oscar,” Ant said when speaking to Football League World.
“He’s a natural goalscorer, perhaps the side of his game where Rosenior would be looking for in terms of being able to link up play, hold the ball up and add more than just goals is probably lacking as he’s a bit limited in that capacity.
“But, you can’t ignore his goal record – he’s a pure poacher and that’s just the player he is and it does leave us quite light up top.
“We’ve only got Aaron Connolly, Liam Delap and Ozan Tufan who we have been playing as a striker this season, so a couple of injuries and we’re left a little bit light.
“But we’ve got a £2 million loan fee instantly and I believe they’ve got a buyout fee of £4 million, so for a free signing to possibly make £6 million is good business at the end of the day and I imagine we’ve probably got a case to recall him if injuries get to that point.
“It is bizarre though, especially from an outsiders perspective – he was our top scorer last season and we’ve just gone and loaned him out to Metz.
“A bizarre one, but we fully trust in Rosenior and I just don’t think Oscar fits Rosenior’s current style of play unfortunately.”
Do Hull City have enough striker options following Estupinan’s departure?
As mentioned by Ant, Hull are now lacking a bit when it comes to depth following Estupinan’s exit.
Connolly and Delap are the only two out-and-out strikers that head coach Liam Rosenior can now call upon, meaning at times there may have to be stop-gaps moved from attacking midfield and into an even more advanced role.
It was clear though that Estupinan was third choice for Rosenior going into this season, and perhaps that is why the deal was done.
If true, £2 million is a significant loan fee (HullLive have claimed it is in the seven-figure bracket) to bring in and you’d imagine all wages are being paid, so financially it’s a deal that makes sense.
There will still be a worry though that Rosenior doesn’t have enough in attack, but he has plenty of wide and central options in the attacking midfield areas to chop and change if necessary.
