John Hendrie column

Aaron Mclean will be a good signing for City – if he has got half the attitude and desire of Gary Jones.

The skipper is the perfect example of that hunger to succeed even after such a long career in the game.

Every manager wants a hungry player, whatever their age, and you don’t need to look beyond Jones for that.

Mclean has come in at the age of 30 on a two-and-a-half year contract. He has dropped down to third-tier football, where he has proven himself in the past.

The most important aspect for me is that he has that desire to do well again and sees this as a fresh challenge.

I did it just before my 33rd birthday when I went to Barnsley and we got into the Premier League. Why? Because I was hungry to achieve more in the game.

You’ve got to be up for it and go out there with the attitude of “I want a crack at this”.

When you sign a player, you’ve got to know the make-up of their game and the strengths and weaknesses.

It’s also a matter of teams playing to people’s strengths, which City have done with Nahki Wells. I’m not sure that was necessarily the case with Aaron at Hull.

Steve Bruce is doing a good job there and they are bringing in bodies now. But it has been difficult for any of the Hull strikers.

The Premier League is all about possession and when you’re one of the smaller clubs, you won’t see anywhere near as much of the ball compared with the opposition.

It’s backs to the wall at times, so as a striker it’s going to be hard to get chances – and even more so when you’re played out of position.

So I’m sure Aaron is delighted to be back up front again. He scored a lot of goals for Peterborough in this division with Craig Mackail-Smith, so he knows how to do well.

Let’s hope he is hungry to do the job.