Name: Tom Cairney
Date of Birth: 20th January 1991
Position: Midfielder
Club: Hull
Previous Clubs: Leeds
International caps: Scotland U19 2(0)
Highly rated midfielder has broken into the Tigers side this season and has impressed enough to have the top clubs tracking his signature.
Cairney, who has a Scottish father and English mother, has played 13 times for Hull this season, netting twice, including the opening goal on his debut in August 2009.
The midfielder was on Leeds books until the age of 16, when he left Elland Road after being released for being too small. He was taken on at the KC Stadium and now stands at a strong six foot tall, leaving Leeds rueing the decision to get rid at such a young age.
He was named Hull Young player of the season 2008/9 before making his debut against Tottenham in the final pre-season friendly for the 2009/10 season. A competitive debut followed in the Carling Cup tie at Southend before a league debut in January 2010. A first, and so far only, Premier League goal arrived in March 2010 when he netted in the defeat to Everton.
Cairney picked up the Man of the Match award on his Premier League debut against Wolves and then followed that up a fantastic display against Chelsea four days kater, as he bossed the midfield and kept Lampard and Ballack in the shade to earn Hull a point. These displays alerted other clubs and now Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Everton are amongst the clubs tracking the teenager very closely.
That move may not be too far away as, although the Nottingham born star is contracted to Hull until the summer of 2011, and besides the fact the club have offered him a deal thats runs until the summer of 2014, he has yet to sign the deal and then Hull manager Phil Brown has publicly criticised the people representing the midfielder as they are unlicensed and are making talks very difficult in Brown's eyes.