Hull City defender Lewis Ritson is attracting the interest of a number of clubs both in Britain and in Europe, with the 21-year-old set to be out of contract with the Tigers in the summer, according to the Football Insider.

Ritson has emerged as one of Hull’s most influential performers within their youth setups, with the centre-back captaining the Tigers’ at all youth levels including their under-23s, but the defender is yet to make his first team debut for the club ahead of his contract coming to an end in the summer.

Grant McCann’s side have suffered a host of problems with injuries to some of their key defenders, with the likes of Reece Burke and Jordy De Wijs in particular both having suffered spells out of action, but Ritson has still been unable to force his way into the first team picture this term.

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It is now thought that the defender is likely to leave the club in the summer, and the likes of Scottish side St Mirren, Italian side Perugia and Shelbourne in the League of Ireland are all interested in securing an agreement with the 21-year-old to join them ahead of next season.

The verdict

This would be a fairly unsurprising departure from the KCOM Stadium in the summer, with Ritson not having been able to convince McCann that he is ready to make an impact on the side throughout the campaign, despite producing some encouraging performances at youth level.

Considering the amount of defensive injuries the Tigers have suffered, Ritson will be frustrated that he has not been given a chance to impress and stake a claim for regular first team football, and so it is no shock to see him wanting to secure a move away so he can begin to play regularly.

Given that the defender is 21-years-old he will be now needing to ensure that he gets regular minutes at first team level so that he can develop his game, with youth team football not really offering the sorts of real match experience that a player needs to develop into a reliable first teamer.

The 21-year-old will not be short of suitors and were he to go on and impress elsewhere, then Hull will be wondering why they did not afford the defender a chance to impress in the side this term, but it now seems like McCann’s side will be building for next season, whatever league they are in, without Ritson.