Hakeeb needs regular football to produce best
Following Hull City’s deal to bring Hakeeb Adelakun to the club from Bristol City on a one-year loan deal, we caught up with Robins’ reporter Gregor Mcgregor to get the lowdown on the new arrival.
How did Adelakun’s spell at Bristol City go?
Hakeeb was always likely to go elsewhere for a spell, as he’s been unable to break into the senior Bristol City side for a while.
He has played just five times for the senior Robins team since arriving from Scunthorpe - all in the 2018/19 campaign - following an impressive year under Graham Alexander and Nick Daws at Glanford Park.
It’s been mostly Under-23s appearances since, though he did suffer a bad ankle injury previously that required surgery, just at a time when he was catching the eye of Lee Johnson.
A mixed spell at Rotherham United on loan followed.
What are his strengths?
On his day he’s a real baller and he has good individual skill and the nimble footwork to at times embarrass his markers.
He has pace and trickery and his 12 assists in the year before he joined Bristol City shows he can create.
We’ve seen him impress in Under-23s games and look the best player on the pitch.
However, that is a long way from League One football and now he needs to really work hard on finding a consistency to his game.
And his weaknesses?
As mentioned, finding that consistency is one thing.
There are also other parts of his game to work on: the defensive side will be a big thing.
Adelakun works hard and making that effective will be an objective.
And perhaps adding a few more goals to his game too. Adelakun can score and has the ability to get double figures for the season in my opinion - but to get there he’ll need confidence and regular football to rediscover his rhythm.
What will he bring?
Character-wise, he’s very laid back and that means he should be able to cope with whatever comes his way. Though, equally Grant Mccann may need to prod him occasionally - not literally - to get the best from him.