BY DARREN JOHNSTONE – Capital City Press
Scotland playmaker Shaun Maloney is on the verge of joining Hull City following a ‘glowing reference’ from national team manager from Gordon Strachan.
Tigers boss Steve Bruce has revealed that the English Championship club are closing in on a deal to bring Maloney back across that Atlantic from Chicago Fire.
Hull recently had one bid turned down for the 32-year-old but it now appears that they have reached a suitable agreement with the MLS outfit.
Maloney joined Fire in a £1 million switch from Wigan in January but is set to return to Britain after making only 14 appearances, scoring three times, for the American club.
Bruce is looking forward to working with the former Celtic forward after sounding out Strachan about Maloney.
Bruce said: “Shaun is close to joining, we’ve made progress on that.
“He’s got that bit of quality on the ball, he’s played at the highest level and he will give us that little bit of something extra.
“He’s got a glowing reference from Gordon Strachan, so he could give us that little bit of quality and experience.”
Maloney was hailed as a huge signing coup by Fire when he joined at the turn of the year.
A recent report revealed that Maloney was his team’s highest-paid player, taking in an annual salary of just over £1 million.
Speaking earlier this week, Chicago head coach Frank Yallop said: “We’re not trying to sell Shaun, we never did.
“Obviously when a club comes in and makes an offer you’ve got to obviously consider it, and look at the big picture, if you like.
“We’ve discussed it for sure. You have to bring up things that are out there. The only three things that matter are the Fire, Hull City, and Shaun. They’re the only three people that matter in this situation.
“You can’t stop a club from putting offers in. If they’re going to put in an offer that makes a difference we’ve got to look at it.”
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