Haji Wright’s successful loan spell in Turkey has not only helped the American forward on the field but has reportedly attracted two new clubs for his services this summer.
Italian Serie A side Spezia and English Football League Championship club Hull City have joined the race for Wright this summer, multiple outlets reported. Robert Platek, part owner of Spezia, is also involved in the ownership of Wright’s current club Sonderjyske.
Spezia was also reportedly interested in Wright in May 2021 before the forward was loaned to Antalayspor during the start of the 2021-22 Super Lig season.
Hull City vice chairman Tan Kesler also confirmed his club’s interest in Wright this summer, in an interview with BBC Sport. Kesler added that the Tigers and Sonderjyske have agreed to a transfer fee for Wright, but are still working on personal terms of his contract.
“So many clubs are chasing him at the moment,” Kesler said of Wright. “We agreed on the transfer fee part of it, they confirmed officially a couple of days ago, so we are kind of managing the player’s personal terms, and as you can imagine, I wanted not to make any comments until [club owner] Acun [Ilıcalı] made comments because a lot of clubs are chasing him – Champions League-level clubs.
“But he said to us that he believes in our project, and he doesn’t want to go to a place where he doesn’t play or as an alternative striker,” Kesler added.
Wright has also been linked with Super Lig champions Trabzonspor after impressing in Turkey last season. The 24-year-old scored 14 goals and added two assists in 31 league appearances for Antalyaspor, helping the club finish seventh in league play.
His strong loan spell in Turkey helped Wright earn his U.S. men’s national team debut in June in a 3-0 friendly win over Morocco. Wright scored the third goal in that match and went on to appear in additional matches against Uruguay and El Salvador.
Both Spezia and Hull City fought off relegation in their respective leagues last season with Spezia finished 16th in Serie A and Hull City finishing 19th in the EFL Championship.
I thought he was pretty nonexistent too against El Salvador in the first half he got as well…but he looked pretty durn good against Uruguay. I really liked how he was holding the ball up and how he got involved there and how he connected with his teammates…and he assuredly did not look out of his league.
Granted, he looked nonexistent against El Salvador as well but given the conditions that night and how fast he got the hook I would mark his effort there as “incomplete” rather than assign any sort of grade.
I definitely did not feel he really deserved the harsh words Gregg had for him. I’m not sure what that was about…though it may have honestly just been Gregg giving himself some wiggle room to bring in Pepi or Sargent or whoever if one of them is in form, rather than just allowing Wright to get anointed as “on the plane” as may have easily happened if he hadn’t said those words, too.
Wright didn’t definitively make the plane this past window, IMHO…but I also saw nothing that put him off it either and especially against Uruguay plenty of indicator he may well belong. As a big center-forward target striker I’d personally have Wright as tops in the pool right now, ahead of Pepi and certainly ahead of Dike or Pefok.
Staying with Trabzonspor may not be the worst decision. He already knows the system, would get CL showcase and plenty of reps leading up to the WC. Hull and Spezia could be in same situation as last year. May not be the greatest lead up to WC if team is struggling.
He’s not been at Trabzonspor he’s been on loan with Antalyaspor. It would be same league but new club.
Hmmm…. I would rather see him go to Serie A with Spezia. If he does well there then bigger Italian teams will take notice.