Hull City believe they can get Aaron Connolly firing again as the forward prepares for another spell in the Championship.
The Republic of Ireland forward is poised to join the Tigers on loan ahead of this weekend’’s FA Cup third round action.
"He is on loan at Venezia and we are trying to complete some of the paperwork with them,” said Hull’s vice chairman Tan Kesler.
“It has more or less been agreed with the player and Brighton."
Brighton forward Connolly has lost his way for club and country and a disastrous loan spell in Italy is about to be cut short.
Connolly joined the Serie B side at the start of this season and was supposed to stay for the entire campaign.
But after just five appearances, the deal is being ripped up with Galway man Connolly on his way back to the Championship.
Turning 23 later this month, he spent the second half of last season on loan at Middlesbrough where he scored twice in 19 appearances.
Connolly, who still has 18 months to run on his Brighton contract, has been dropped by Ireland boss Stephen Kenny and hasn’t featured since October 2021.
But he returned to the Ireland Under-21 squad for their European Championship playoff duel with Israel in late September.
Hull City are hoping they can rekindle a spark in the attacker when they complete deals for Connolly and Crystal Palace winger Malcolm Ebiowei, also on loan.
Hull manager Liam Rosenior told Hull Live: "They are two players who I really like, two players I think the fans will be excited by when they see them play.
"I want players who can score goals and create and that's something we wanted to address and hopefully we get those two lads done sooner rather than later."
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