Liverpool recalled Lewis Koumas from his loan at Birmingham City and reallocated him to Championship promotion hopefuls Hull City
Lewis Koumas has netted three goals in 11 Championship games since joining Hull City in January
Lewis Koumas has netted three goals in 11 Championship games since joining Hull City in January
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Shortly after Birmingham City’s FA Cup third round victory over Cambridge United in January, Lewis Koumas showed a vulnerability that very few footballers do.
The 20-year-old admitted to being ‘a confidence player’ which, as Chris Davies would point out the following week, virtually every player is – but how many of them state it publicly?
In doing so Koumas was conceding that he had lacked confidence at points whilst with Blues, which was evident to those of us who watched him feel his way into a loan spell that was always going to end when a replacement – in this case, Ibrahim Osman – was signed.
You would come away from games wondering whether he could be truly effective at this level and, rather harshly, wonder what Liverpool were seeing that the rest of us weren’t.
Hull City have stepped in and provided Koumas with the platform to show that he can be effective in the Championship.
Koumas has scored three times in 11 league games for the Tigers, of which just four have been starts, to treble his contribution for Blues in the first half of the season.
What have Hull done differently with Koumas?
“Sergej Jakirovic has played him right across the attacking third of the pitch,” HullLive reporter Barry Cooper says. “In games like Chelsea and Ipswich Town, he's been deployed up front, and in others like Wrexham away, he's played up alongside Oli McBurnie. Koumas has also played out wide and seems happy to be given the freedom that he has so far.
“Given his pace, Jakirovic has looked to try to get him to stretch teams. He's direct, and in the closing stages of games when you're trying to see it out, that ability to go in behind is particularly useful. His three goals so far have all been different, including a delightful glancing header at Wrexham, and thumping volley against Derby.”
Davies used Koumas centrally on his league debut for Blues at Leicester City but from that moment on he was exclusively used out wide, usually on the left and occasionally on the right.
If you asked Koumas to name his best position he would say: ‘Left wing, I offer most off the left wing, but I can play all three positions.”
But Koumas’s speed has seen him utilised through the middle for Liverpool and Wales, with whom he still hopes to play at the World Cup in the summer.
Like most young players, Koumas has a lot of learning and refining to do, but the raw materials he has been gifted are allowing him to impact games for promotion-chasing Hull.
Copper added: “He is what he is, a young player learning his trade in the most competitive league in the world. He's raw and makes mistakes, but he's clearly a player with some serious talent, and there's no doubt that he's been a worthwhile addition.
“City needed players in January that would supplement what is already a really strong side, and Koumas has come in and made an impact, which is all you can ask. His impact has been felt directly in terms of the points he's helped claim, and those could well prove crucial when the season ends.”
A brief spell at St Andrew’s won’t define a career still very much in its infancy, but Koumas will hope to prove some of his doubters wrong when his new loan club face his old one at the MKM Stadium next month.
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