The exciting winger was one of five January arrivals at the MKM Stadium
Yu Hirakawa has looked bright since arriving from Bristol City(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Bristol City head coach Gerhard Struber says it remains the plan for Yu Hirakawa to return to Ashton Gate in the summer, once his loan spell at Hull City ends.
Hirakawa joined the Tigers on a short-term deal from the Robins last month, in a move that surprised some, including assistant boss and former Ashton Gate chief Dean Holden. The Japan international had come off the bench at Oxford United, playing 25 minutes before moving to East Yorkshire 48 hours later.
Since moving to the MKM Stadium, the winger has impressed with his cameo appearance for the Tigers, and now he’ll look to kick on, having been unable to play against his parent club in their last league outing.
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Struber, though, was coy when asked why Hirakawa was allowed to leave Ashton Gate, especially with Anis Mehmeti leaving for Ipswich Town a few days later, before going on to explain the mechanics of the agreement with City.
“He’s a loan player from us to Hull and I think we don’t want to have in the end some discussion points,” the Austrian told Hull Live. “I think this is a clear rule. It’s not only between us with loan players. This is a normal rule between players. They come from loan. We were not always profiting from loan deals like that, but this is one of the rules that we follow and that, of course, Hull has to follow, and that’s the situation.
“We always are happy when we look to Hull and Yu Hirakawa gets game time, but of course it was a little bit a different topic. For the next five months, this was the deal, and then we planned that he jumped back to us (this summer).”
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