Hull City have reached a verbal agreement with Genoa for Brooke Norton-Cuffy in a deal reported at €14 million (£12 million). Brooke Norton-Cuffy is set to return to English football after 41 Serie A appearances for Genoa, where he scored twice and added one assist.
Hull City and Genoa
The reported fee would take him back across the channel after Genoa paid around €2 million (£1.7 million) plus potential bonuses for him in 2024. That is a sharp rise in value for a player who left Arsenal permanently only last year and would give Hull City a defender with top-flight experience in Italy.
Norton-Cuffy began at Chelsea before moving into Arsenal's academy and signing his first professional contract with Arsenal in January 2021. He never made a senior appearance for Arsenal, but his loan at Lincoln City in January 2022 gave him the platform that first put him on the market, and he later added spells with Rotherham United, Coventry City and Millwall.
Arsenal in January
His loan at Lincoln City brought 17 League One appearances, a debut as a substitute against Plymouth Argyle and his first senior goal in a victory over Sheffield Wednesday in March. Michael Appleton had him in a side that used him as an attacking outlet from full-back, the sort of profile that tends to keep transfer interest alive when clubs start comparing fee, age and resale value.
Genoa had already drawn a line through a bigger bid in the January transfer window, when they reportedly rejected more than €15 million (£12.8 million). Hull City are now said to have moved at €14 million (£12 million), a price that sits below that earlier figure but still points to the market settling on a premium for a 41-game Serie A defender rather than a gamble on a lower-league loan product.
Will Arsenal
Arsenal are expected to benefit financially because they inserted a sell-on clause when Norton-Cuffy left for Genoa in the summer of 2024. For Hull City, the practical issue is simple: once the paperwork is finished, they add a player who has already been tested in Italy and whose value has moved far faster than the fee Genoa paid to bring him in.
Until Hull City or Genoa put the move out formally, the market has the outline of the deal but not the final stamp. On the numbers, though, this looks like a clean trade: Genoa cashes in, Hull City buy a ready-made defender, and Arsenal collect a slice on the way through.
