Hull City are unlikely to be able to sign Crystal Palace winger Malcolm Ebiowei on a permanent deal in the summer, according to the Tigers' boss Liam Rosenior who made this transfer admission to Hull Live.

The 19-year-old has made five appearances for the East Yorkshire outfit during his time at the MKM Stadium so far, starting just one of those games and failing to make the impact in the final third that he would have wanted to.

Despite this, Rosenior will still have high hopes for the teenager who previously plied his trade under Hull's boss and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney at Derby County last season before his switch to Palace in the summer.

He may have only made three Premier League appearances for Patrick Vieira's side this season - but he was a regular part of their matchday squad before being sent out on a temporary spell.

Hull are already exploring the option of securing longer-term deals for some of their loanees, with Xavier Simons closing in on a long-term stay and the club also interested in permanent agreements for Aaron Connolly and Karl Darlow.

But Rosenior has conceded that he probably won't be able to retain Ebiowei, who could become a key part of Palace's plans at Selhurst Park in the future.

Hull's boss said: "What I want to do with Malcolm is come the summer, make sure he's challenging for a place in Palace's first team - we've got to remember, he's probably been on their bench 20 times this season - but then if he's not part of that conversation, we're the first choice for him to want to come back to.

"One hundred percent, it (his long-term future) remains at Palace.

"There's always a view with every loan that comes in to work with them beyond the time that we have them."

The Verdict:

At 19, he still has plenty of time to improve and that's why it comes as no surprise that Palace probably want to retain him beyond the end of this season.

As Rosenior mentions, a loan deal could potentially be in the pipeline though because he needs to be playing as much football as possible and will probably win more minutes at the MKM Stadium than he will in the English capital.

You feel Hull will be competing in the top half under Rosenior next season and may even be able to compete for a spot in the promotion mix, something that may persuade the Eagles to sanction another loan agreement.

How many minutes he wins between now and the end of the season may affect their chances of getting a fresh loan deal over the line - because Palace will want Ebowei to be playing as much as possible.

There may not be a shortage of interest in him during the summer if January is anything to go by, with Hull seemingly beating several sides to secure his services for the remainder of this campaign.