Wednesday 15 October 2008

Kamil full strength



Utterly brilliant news that Hull City have decided to make Kamil Zayatte a permanent signing at the KC Stadium when the window re-opens in January.

It also sounds like a shrewd bit of business by the club to get an exclusive buy-up option for the Guinean defender from his Swiss club Young Boys when he arrived on loan at the end of August.

And for £2.5million, the same record fee as Anthony Gardner, the man he is currently keeping out of the side, Zayatte will represent an amazing bargain, judging by his first four matches in a City shirt.

He and Michael Turner have been unbreakable at the heart of our defence. Zayatte's star turn was in the 2-1 win at Arsenal, where he bullied and broke and intercepted everything that the pretty possession-freaks at the Emirates tried to pass around him.

He seems to be brave as a lion, evoking memories of hard-as-nails defenders of City's less salubrious past, such as Peter Skipper, Russ Wilcox and Jon Whitney. Brick walls were no match for these men, and Zayatte seems to come from the same school.

It means we have two £2.5million central defenders in the squad, plus Turner, whose worth to the side is currently incalculable. If and when a darker day or two comes this season for Hull City, I'd still feel safe in the knowledge that the defence will see us through. Zayatte's acquisition is a crucial step in making sure that the sneerers who claim we're in a false position don't get too many days to prove it.