Hull lead race for Liverpool winger Ryan Kent as Leonid Slutsky ponders more loan deals

Liverpool winger Ryan Kent is firmly on the radar of Hull City after Tigers boss Leonid Slutsky admitted his interest in loaning more players from top Premier League clubs following the addition of Chelsea defender Ola Aina.

The Liverpool Echo reported over the weekend that recently relegated Hull, in a deal that would be separate from Liverpool's talks over the potential £8m ($10.4m) signing of left-back Andy Robertson, were interested in taking Kent on a season-long arrangement as they look to secure an immediate return to the Premier League .

Quizzed regarding that interest by the Hull Daily Mail amid similarly strong links to Everton academy graduate Matthew Pennington, Slutsky said: "We have four more loan options and a player from Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, clubs like that, of course they're interesting for us."

Having previously demonstrated his potential in Liverpool's youth teams and during a promising stint at Coventry City, Kent was loaned to newly-promoted Championship outfit Barnsley in July 2016.

The 20-year-old, capable of playing on either wing or behind the striker, made 47 appearances under Paul Heckingbottom and was duly named as the Tykes' young player of the season.

Following that impressive spell at Oakwell, Kent turned out for Liverpool in the second half of their opening pre-season friendly at Tranmere Rovers. Although omitted from the subsequent draw with Wigan Athletic, he was named in a 25-man squad that flew to Hong Kong on Sunday (16 July) to compete in the Premier League Asia Trophy as Jurgen Klopp plans to conduct a full assessment before making a decision over his future.

Harry Redknapp's Birmingham City have also been linked with a potential loan swoop for Kent along with Celtic and Leeds United, while The Sun reported in June that top-flight outfit Bournemouth had made a £6m offer for his services amid rival interest from Middlesbrough.

Hull could certainly use some new additions with less than three weeks remaining before the start of the 2017-18 season, with Aina so far the only senior player to arrive since former Russia and CSKA Moscow manager Slutsky was named as Marco Silva's successor last month.

Their squad is looking somewhat depleted following the departure of various loanees and out-of-contract players coupled with the sales of Harry Maguire and Tom Huddlestone to Leicester City and Derby County respectively. Goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic is also flying to the Far East, where he will undergo a medical and complete formalities ahead of his own £2m switch to the King Power Stadium.