City’s influential midfielder played 48 times in the Tigers’ promotion-winning season
Oli McBurnie is hugged by Regan Slater at Wembley(Image: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has paid tribute to Regan Slater for the role in which the midfielder played in helping the Tigers win promotion to the Premier League.
Slater, who joined the club initially on loan from Sheffield United in the autumn of 2020 in a bargain £50,000 deal, has since gone on to play more than 200 times for the Tigers.
The Gleadless-born midfielder scooped Players’ Player of the Year and Supporters’ Player of the Year at City‘s end-of-season awards, and is now having a well-earned celebration with his teammates in Las Vegas, courtesy of owner Acun Ilicali.
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While Jakirovic gave the Player of the Season crown to Oli McBurnie, the Croatian boss lavished praise on Slater for a consistent season of performances.
“This is a big award for Slater when players give you an award,” Jakirovic told Hull Live. “For me also, it’s fully deserved. If you’re asking me about the whole season, who is the MVP? This is Slater. He is the most valuable player one hundred per cent. With how he approaches the training sessions, the games, attitude on the pitch, how available he is for all the season, it’s not so easy, and this fully deserves his award.”
Jakirovic had ranked Slater fourth or fifth in the pecking order back in the summer, after the arrivals of John Lundstam, Amir Hadziahmetovic and Darko Gyabi, but the 26-year-old quickly established himself as one of the first names on the team-sheet and has been crucial this term.
The City boss says Slater has proved his worth, and when he was absent for a period with an ankle injury in the final weeks of the campaign, it showed.
“I think after the Sheffield Wednesday game (3-1 win in March), when I said time will show how much we miss him because he’s a special player,” Jakirovic continued.
“Maybe sometimes he’s not so attractive, because this sixth position in the midfield is not attractive at all. You must run, you must fight for every ball. I don’t know how many balls he took this season. He’s keeping a balance between the defensive and offensive players, so he’s very important. I think he showed that he proved that on the pitch.”
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