Jaden Philogene makes Hull City prediction after sealing Aston Villa transfer | OneFootball

Philogene's return to Villa Park after one year has been confirmed

Jaden Philogene has issued a prediction on Hull City's upcoming season despite the completion of his return to Aston Villa.

The 22-year-old winger looked destined to depart the MKM Stadium from the very moment the summer transfer window opened as the Tigers faced a barrage of speculation from teams in the Premier League and on the continent for his services.

Just last week, it looked like Philogene's eventual route out of East Yorkshire wasn't a sudden return to B6, just 10 months after the roles of this particular transfer were reversed, but Unai Emery's men were able to swoop under the nose of fellow top flight sides such as Everton and Ipswich Town to eventually put the long-standing transfer saga to bed.

This comes just a week after Hull also bid farewell to academy graduate Jacob Greaves, who moved to Portman Road for a reported £15m+ fee despite initial talk that Philogene would join him in East Anglia in a 'double-deal'.

Jaden Philogene issues Hull City prediction after returning to Aston Villa

The England youth international was one of the standout performers in the Championship last term, despite only making 32 appearances as a result of a two-month injury lay-off.

Not only City fans, but supporters of other clubs were at times left mesmerised by the ability showcased by the Hammersmith-born winger, who was acquired for a reported fee of just £5m under Liam Rosenior last September.

However, the Tigers are said to have made an £8m profit on an eventual £13m fee as a result of Villa's sell-on clause should the winger have moved elsewhere, which has its own pros and cons.

Regardless, the winger has taken to his Instagram profile to express his feelings to the MKM Stadium faithful as he returns to the West Midlands after being the club's top scorer last season, scoring on 12 occasions.

"I want to thank everyone at Hull City for the past year," Philogene's statement began. "A place where I could be comfortable enough to be myself and show everyone what I can do & this wouldn't have been possible without all of the support from the players, staff and importantly, the fans!"

"I'll never forget the memories I've made at the MKM!" he added.

Hull City looking to replace Philogene with Crystal Palace gem

Unsurprisingly, the Tigers hierarchy, including CEO Tan Kesler, had already set about improving the wing department ahead of Philogene's pending exit.

City are one of several clubs interested in striking a deal with Crystal Palace for the highly-rated Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who accumulated 15 goals whilst on loan at Charlton Athletic two seasons ago.

Such is the potential at the 21-year-old's disposal, it's also hardly a surprise that Premier League newcomers Southampton are also interested in a swoop for the winger, although despite Rak-Sakyi's keenness to feature under Russell Martin, a fresh update from Sky Sports claims that Palace's stance is a loan move to the second tier.

That gives City and many divisional rivals a boost and more frustration in equal measure, after Kesler previously admitted to Hull Live: "We are interested in Rak-Sakyi and so are like 15 other Championship clubs. We made the best offer. Palace feel very comfortable with him playing for us but I think at the moment he's getting interest from another Premier League club.

"If he doesn't go somewhere in the Premier League permanently, I'm confident that I would like to see him with us and we will try to do everything to bring him in. We've spoken with the agent, we've spoken with the player and we're looking to have another conversation with the player," he added.

"The club is just very comfortable with us, Crystal Palace. Thanks to Dougie (Freedman) and Steve (Parish), they're very supportive of the player's development with us so at this minute, it's about the waiting game a little bit."

If Hull were able to fend off interest for Rak-Sakyi from their divisional rivals and fellow play-off hopefuls, it would no doubt ease the concerns of supporters after a slow-moving window in terms of incomings, despite losing the services of Philogene, Greaves and Ozan Tufan so far.

City have also reportedly expressed an interest in young Tottenham foward, Will Lankshear, who netted 18 goals in 24 Premier League 2 appearances last term, highlighting that the ideology of acquiring young talents on a long or short-term basis hasn't changed, despite a changing of the guard in the dugout.