Hull City transfer talk: Moses Simon, Tom Ince on crosswords, Lokeren, a new striker?

Our daily blog with the latest news, transfer rumours and gossip about Hull City in the Premier League. Hull City fans saw glimpses of his potential on Thursday evening and now Tottenham are said to be keen on signing AS Trencin winger Moses Simon. The highly rated 19-year-old Nigerian gave Ahmed Elmohamady plenty to think about in the first leg in Slovakia and looked dangerous at times in the return match at the KC, before fading in the second-half. Spurs watched Simon in both legs, according to The Mirror, and are ready to bid £2m for his services. Liverpool, Celtic, Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord are all said to be interested. There's no talk of Bruce showing an interest in Simon, whose hat-trick in the second qualifying round set up the tie with the Tigers, but there's sure to be one or two City fans who wouldn't mind seeing more of the promising paceman.Odds on a new striker? Now Nick Proschwitz has signed for Brentford, will Hull City look to bring in another striker? Earlier this summer, word was Steve Bruce might well move to strengthen his attack, IF Proschwitz and Matty Fryatt both moved on. Bruce has already dismissed talk of a raid for Watford's Troy Deeney, while the perpetually linked Nicklas Bendtner has yet to find a club after his allegedly "crazy" wage demands put off Eintracht Frankfurt. The bookies have Aston Villa favourites at 8/13 to bag the former Arsenal man, with City back at 25-1. Interestingly enough, you can get 16-1 on Peter Crouch, who is rumoured to have been holding talks with West Ham, fetching up at the KC Stadium. Any takers? Talking of bookies, Ladbrokes says the Tigers are dead certs to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League because of their European commitments. "There's a lot to like about the makeup of Hull's squad, there's some flair players like Ince and Tom Huddlestone blended with workhorses like Davies and Long," they say. "If it wasn't for the extra load of the Europa League they could have caused a top-half stir this season, as it is survival should be seen as a happy result."Tom Ince: I'm hooked on crosswords Tom Ince loves doing crosswords and says his ideal dinner guests would be Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Beyonce. The Hull City winger told the Daily Mail he is hooked on crosswords and sits for hours doing them. He also revealed he planned to study sociology at university, had he not made it as a footballer. Ince said his sporting hero was Ryan Giggs. "He lodged with us when he started out at Manchester United," he said. "I was only little, but he used to kick a ball around with me in the garden. I've never forgotten that." City fans will certainly be overjoyed if Ince manages to emulate Giggs' wing play.Lokeren's European pedigree Although Lokeren promise to pose a stiff examination of City's Europa League pedigree later this month, manager Steve Bruce will know the challenge could have been far more demanding.

City were a seeded team in the draw at UEFA's headquarters and could have faced trips to Kazakhstan, Croatia, Romania or Cyprus.

The short-haul flight to Belgium will limit travelling ahead of facing Stoke City at the KC Stadium three days later, while the home game has ensured the trip to Aston Villa on August 30 has been put back a day.

City skipper Curtis Davies reacted to yesterday's draw on Twitter by saying: "Nice trip to Belgium for us. Hopefully, now the rust is being worn away we'll give a better account of ourselves in this tie."

Tom Huddlestone echoed those sentiments and added: "Distance wise, the draw could have been a lot worse for us. Be a tough tie but hopefully we're getting nearer to full match fitness."

Lokeren have entered the Europa League at the play-off round stage courtesy of winning the Belgian Cup final in March. A 1-0 win over Zulte Waregem in Brussels marked the second time they have won the competition in three years and secured an eighth campaign in full European action.

The last time Lokeren faced English opposition was in October 2003. A Manchester City side inspired by Nicolas Anelka was too strong for the Belgians on that occasion, inflicting a 4-2 defeat on aggregate.

Two years earlier City veteran Steve Harper was an unused substitute when Newcastle United won comfortably over two legs in the 2001 Intertoto Cup.

As it stands, the 9,000-capacity Daknam Stadion will host the first leg in 12 days time. That could pose problems for City supporters wanting to travel with away tickets likely to be scarce.

Also at a premium will be accommodation. A town with roughly the same population as Bridlington is unable to offer a wide range of hotels and supporters may choose to stay in nearby Ghent, Antwerp or Brussels.

Elsewhere in the Europa League draw, Premier League side Spurs have been handed an inviting tie with Cypriot side Limassol. Italian giants Inter Milan face Stjarnan, the lowest ranked club remaining, while Legia Warsaw, who were removed from the Champions League for fielding an ineligible player against Celtic, face Kazakhstan side Aktobe.

Aluko 'blessed' to score Sone Aluko says he feels "blessed" to have scored the winner in Hull City's Europa League match against AS Trencin. "It was some feeling to score in our first-ever home European tie in front of a full house," he said. "I feel blessed. "There is no feeling like scoring goals and this one was so satisfying because it ended up winning us a tough tie." Substitute Aluko needed just six minutes to score the crucial 80th-minute winner, his first goal since September.

"It's the best I've seen him physically for seven years," said Steve Bruce.

"I'm delighted for him that he's managed to score. We all know that he's got terrific ability and let's hope he can stay injury free. He'll be a big player for us if he does."