Hull City have been boosted by the news that summer signing Hidemasa Morita could be in the squad to face Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime.
Morita arrived in the summer after leaving Sporting Lisbon, linking up with Sergej Jakirovic’s squad at their pre-season training camp in Slovenia, but was nursing a calf problem and has only just started training in England as he prepares for his first season in English football.
The Japanese international returned to training this week and could be named on the bench against United at the MKM Stadium, as City begin their Premier League campaign in front of a sold-out home crowd.
Cody Drameh is also back amongst the group after nursing a flare-up of his hamstring injury and is set to be involved, though Joe Gelhardt, Charlie Hughes, Jack Butland, Matty Jacob and Oscar Zambrano remained sidelined, along with long-term absentee Eliot Matazo.
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Jakirovic added that the club were still waiting on the results of the assessment carried out in Dublin on defender Charlie Hughes, as he continues to nurse a groin issue following double hernia surgery at the end of last season. There’s better news on Joe Gelhardt, who could return to training ahead of schedule next week as he recovers from an ankle problem picked up before he signed from Leeds United.
“Morita started to train with us, so we will see tomorrow (Friday),” Jakirovic told Hull Live. “Maybe he will be on the bench. We will see if he feels good. He played his last game at the end of May (for Sporting Lisbon), I think, so we have to be careful. We will see, and I will speak with him, of course.”
City plan to use Morita in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash at Stoke City, assuming he comes through training without any issues on Friday, as they look to build up his fitness having not played in any pre-season games.
“Maybe he will get some minutes there on Tuesday, so this is the plan,” Jakirovic added. “Cody is back. He trained with us this week. Zambrano is still out, and he’s now started with individual sessions. Matty Jacob is out. Charlie Hughes went to Dublin to see the specialist, and we will see what the situation is with him after he comes back. I’m expecting him (Joe Gelhardt) next week on the pitch with the team, so I hope he will be fine.”
While a host of new signings will not be available, including Gelhardt and Morita, Jakirovic does have Nobel Mendy, Lucas Herrington, Jens Hjerto-Dahl and Lucas Gourna-Douath all pushing for Premier League debuts, but the Croatian was coy about whether or not they’ll be included in his starting line-up, though he says they’re ready.
“We also use some of these last two friendly games to get some minutes, more minutes for them. My job is to find a good balance between the old players from the Championship and the new arrivals.
“So far so good, and also in training sessions with the individuals to analyse after training, where we show some principles, what we need to do in some positions. It’s a lot of work, but they are also intelligent, so they can recognise what we need from them. They (the new signings) are ready, and tomorrow we will decide who will play against Manchester United.”
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