Hull City head coach on future of former Chelsea midfielder following his loan move to League One promotion chasers
HULL CITY head coach Ruben Selles says that midfielder Xavier Simons still has a future at the club despite being loaned out for the second time in his Tigers career to a lower-division side.
The one-time Chelsea player, 21, who joined City on a permanent basis in the summer of 2023 after spending the 2022-23 season on loan in East Yorkshire, recently linked up with League One promotion chasers Wycombe Wanderers on loan for the rest of the campaign.
It followed his temporary stint at Fleetwood Town last term when he made 15 appearances.
Simons has featured 22 times for Hull in the current season, scoring two goals, but was allowed to head on loan to Buckinghamshire earlier this month.
The Londoner is contracted at Hull until the summer of 2026. He made his Chairboys debut from the bench in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Crawley Town.
Selles said: "I think Xavier is a good player and will be a very important ‘six’ for this football club. But you do not make a good player by not playing.
"My experience in the previous games was that Xavier was probably losing his spot, not only in the line-up but also in the squad because we are strengthening in some other parts of the pitch.
"For us, as a club and Xavier as a player, we cannot allow him to be here and not playing because we need some parts of his game to be a little bit better or more robust. You only get that when you play football matches.
"His spell at Fleetwood was not as successful as it needed to be and for us, he didn’t have the playing time that he should have.
"Wycombe is a good possibility to go and play for a good club who are trying to get promoted with all the pressure of him to go and develop himself.
"Hopefully, he will come in the summer and fight for that place in the line-up for us.”
Relegation-threatened Hull, who are winless in their last three matches, return to action on Saturday with a tough trip to high-flying Sunderland.
Fin Burns, Charlie Hughes and Kasey Palmer are all set to step up their recovery from injury this week ahead of a critical run-in for the lowly Tigers.
After heading to Wearside, Hull hit the road next Wednesday for a key fixture at Cardiff City.
The following Tuesday (March 4), City return to action for a huge survival six-pointer against Plymouth Argyle at the MKM Stadium.