Hull City vice-chairman Tan Kesler has reiterated the club’s agreement with Aston Villa over the terms of Jaden Philogene’s £5m move last summer.
Philogene has been one of the stars of the Championship this season and returned from a two-month layoff to score a sublime winning goal against Millwall on Saturday, his seventh strike in just 15 games.
The eye-catching form of the 21-year-old this season has seen him called up to the England Under-21 squad and receive no shortage of plaudits for his mesmerising displays, but City fans have been growing increasingly concerned about the prospects of losing their star man, despite Kesler outlining the situation back in September.
Kesler, speaking at the 1904 Club’s live podcast event hosted by Hull Live, reaffirmed the situation that Villa could only attempt to sign Philogene, if the Tigers were in the Premier League, and even then, the Birmingham outfit would have to match any other bids submitted from rival clubs. Villa’s buy-back fee stands at £15m, but if another club were to offer £20m, then City would be able to accept that unless Villa matched it.
“He’s not their player, he’s a Hull City player for sure, that I can tell you for sure,” Kesler said when it was put to him Villa fans were taunting their Tigers counterparts. “I love social media, I’m starting to love it even more. I’ve been open from the beginning and also you need to know, that if we promote Villa have agreed to a buy-back but only if we promote and we’re in the Premier League.
