Aston Villa sent message over Jaden Philogene transfer clause by Hull City owner

23 March 2024 , 20:30

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Hull do not fear losing Jaden Philogene to Aston Villa (Image: Greig Cowie/REX/Shutterstock)

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali says he does not fear Aston Villa re-signing England U21 starlet Jaden Philogene this summer.

Villa have first refusal on their former player and can buy him back at the end of the season for £15million if Hull are promoted. However, Ilicali says he's prepared to do whatever is required to keep the 22-year-old providing The Tigers achieve their goal and additionally, the player wants to stay.

The Turkish chief said of the winger, who has eight goals and six assists in the Championship: "We don't have any fear about Philogene getting bought back by Aston Villa. The buy-back option is only available if we get promoted.

"If Jaden wants to play with us and he doesn't want to go to Villa, with the good relationship with the club we will ask for their permission to keep him. I believe that every player should be where they are happy. If Jaden's decision is to stay with mirror.co.uk/all-about/hull-city-fc> Hull City if we go to the Premier League, I'm confident Aston Villa will not make us disappointed."

Crystal Palace are also showing interest in Philogene, who scored for England U21s in their 5-1 win over Azerbaijan on Friday. But Ilicali hopes the player's long-term future is at the MKM Stadium: "We are very, very happy with him. Again, If you look at our transfer history, convincing Jadon to join was very important last summer.

"We took maybe one month to finish the business but as I said, we are such determined people, crazy people that run the club that we show this ambition to the players. Jaden is one of the players I talked to and I think I affected his decision. When I saw him getting loaned to different clubs, I felt like he needed to feel like he belonged to a family.

Jaden Philogene (right) was sold by Aston Villa last summer but they do have a buy-back clause (The FA via Getty Images)

"Instead of loaning, we offered Aston Villa a buy-option to sell him to us and in the end, we thank the Villa family for giving us this young talent. It took us one month but with good success. What we do in the last part of the transfers is to give the players confidence that we aren't like every other club. The owner spends his time with the players giving full energy to the team."

Philogene was lavished in praise back in February when he scored an incredible Rabona goal in the 2-1 triumph at Rotherham.

The goal was initially recorded as an own goal due to a slight deflection but the EFL later changed the decision in Philogene's favour.

Ryan Taylor