Flores: Playing against Arsenal will benefit me
NEW CITY SIGNING ON HOW EUROPA LEAGUE MATCHES HAVE BROADENED HIS EXPERIENCES
New Hull City signing Jordan believes his experience of playing, and scoring against Arsenal in the Europa League will be to his benefit as he looks to make an impact at the KCOM Stadium.
Flores became the Tigers’ first January signing when he agreed to an 18-month deal at the club on Wednesday after opting to leave Irish side Dundalk, with his last match coming last month in a 4-2 defeat by the Gunners at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The 25-year-old former Wigan midfielder was a key figure for the Irish side in the European competition, although the campaign ultimately saw them finish bottom of the group.
“Again, another big experience playing in the Europa League group stages, playing against the calibre of players that play for Arsenal can only do you good, and again, it was a good memory,” he told the club website.
Since leaving Dundalk, Flores has been training with the Tigers following an invite from boss Grant Mccann, doing enough to be offered an 18-month deal in East Yorkshire with the option for an extra year, should things work out well.
“It’s great, it’s good to get back to England having been in Ireland before so to come back over and have the opportunity to play for a club like this is a good feeling.
“We played Arsenal on December 11, a week or so after that the gaffer asked me to come and train for a couple of weeks to keep my fitness up.
“It’s stemmed from there. It was for me to come in train, get a feel for the place for the club to have a look at me and thankfully, over the last couple of weeks it’s paid off.”
Things haven’t been straightforward so far in Flores’ career, after leaving his hometown club Wigan, he was involved in a serious car accident while at Chesterfield, an incident he says had a huge impact on him, though he believes arriving at City at the age he is, is stronger for those difficult experiences.
“It’s brilliant, I’m sure everyone that’s played for their home town club would say the same, you take a lot of pride from it.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite how I wanted it to there and there were a few complications along the way which is why I ended up in Ireland.
“I’ve played in a few places, Sweden was brilliant, Blackpool got promoted to League One while Chesterfield was cut short because of an accident I had.
“When I went over to Ireland it was a fresh start and luckily it worked.”
Mccann will be hoping his latest recruit can splash a little bit of promotion stardust on City, just as he did during his spell at Blackpool in 2016/17 when he helped guide the Seasiders to promotion from League Two into League One.
His last experience of playing in England’s third tier was with the Latics who City still have to play twice before the end of the season after their January meeting at the DW Stadium was postponed because of an outbreak of coronavirus in Lancashire.
“The last time I played in League One I was 18/19 and I think at that age you take things for granted, playing for your hometown club,” he said.
“Now I’m here I’m going to give it a right good go, the aim of the club is to get promoted and that’s why I’m here.
“I’ve learned a lot, I’ve grown as a person and as a player; I feel as if
I’m in a much stronger position now.
Having previously played for his hometown club, Wigan, along with Blackpool and Chesterfield on his way to 90 career appearances,
Flores admits the chance to come back to English football was a chance he was keen to take.
“It’s where I want to be, there are more opportunities over here and to get the opportunity to play for a club like this, it was hard to turn down,” he said.
“To get a promotion with Hull
City and we’ll go from there.”
Regular users of social media will have found it hard to avoid videos of a goal that secured Flores a Puskas Award in recent days, and City fans can look forward to him trying to better Lewie Coyle’s stunner in midweek.
“I’m a central midfielder who likes to get on the ball, passing is one of my strengths and I like to get shots off at goal,” he said.
“You’ve seen in the last season with Dundalk I’ve scored quite a few goals so that’s my aim.”