According to Hull Daily Mail, Hull City have completed signing winger Mallik Wilks on loan from Barnsley, with the Tigers holding the option to make his stay permanent at the end of the season.
The 21-year-old, who won Doncaster Rovers’ Player of the Season last year under the stewardship of Grant McCann, has reunited with his former manager at the KCOM Stadium in an attempt to kickstart his career once again following a lean spell at Barnsley.
Wilks plundered 16 goals and 12 assists in 55 appearances across all competitions in the previous campaign to propel Doncaster to the League One Playoffs while on loan from his boyhood club Leeds United.
A youth exponent of Leeds United, Wilks only made a solitary first-team appearance for the Whites and spent time on loan at Accrington Stanley, Grimsby Town and Doncaster Rovers before cutting ties with the West Yorkshire giants permanently to complete a switch to newly-promoted Barnsley this past summer.
McCann, who took over the reins from Nigel Adkins prior to the start of the campaign, had tried to bring Wilks to East Yorkshire but he ended up joining the Tykes instead. (h/t Hull Daily Mail)
Wilks failed to live up to the expectations at relegation-threatened Barnsley, scoring only once in 15 league outings, but he has now swapped a relegation dogfight for a promotion push by finally reuniting with McCann at Hull City.
The Tigers snapped up midfielders Herbie Kane and Martin Samuelsen from Liverpool and West Ham respectively earlier in the winter market and the latest loan deal for Mallik Wilks means that the 21-year-old has now become the club’s third recruit of the ongoing window.
To put things into perspective, Hull City haven’t really been short of goals this season but the arrival of a versatile attacker like Mallik Wilks is expected to add some additional firepower.
Verdict
With the Tigers just three points adrift of the playoff spots, the 21-year-old would be a handy option if Wilks manages to replicate the kind of form he showed in the League One last season.
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All in all, Hull City completing a loan deal for Mallik Wilks is yet another indication of the club’s trust in the manager’s recruitment philosophy and this move could pay off handsomely in their surge for promotion.
