If an eight-year-old Keane Lewis-Potter had his way, none of this may have happened. He wouldn’t have become a vital part of one of the Premier League’s most exciting teams; he wouldn’t have scored last week against Liverpool; and we wouldn’t be sitting at Brentford’s training ground, discussing his much anticipated return to Hull City to play against his boyhood club for the first time.
That is because when he was first scouted by Hull, he turned their offer down because he was having too much fun playing Sunday league. It wasn’t until he was 14, playing for Hessle Rangers and having scored more than 300 goals for the club, that Hull came knocking once more.
“It was strange actually because I played for the Sunday league team at the time who were one of the best teams, if not the best, in England, Sunday league-wise. We entered tournaments where the best teams from around the country all came and we won that one year and the next year we came runners-up.
“We had a talented team and, for me, it was just to keep going, keep working and not really have a doubt that they [Hull] would come back again.”
Both he and the club should be thankful that they did, because within four years of signing he had made his professional debut.
“I know lads who’ve been at the academy since age seven or eight and worked their way up and I know people who’ve done it the way I’ve done it, but I definitely wouldn’t change a thing,” he says.
This was more than just a route to professional football for Lewis-Potter. Hull have a very proud fanbase and he is firmly a part of that. Aged seven, he was at Wembley to see Dean Windass’s famous volley to send Hull to the
Premier League, and 18 years on, when Oli McBurnie propelled his side to the top flight in even more dramatic fashion, Lewis-Potter watched intently on a bus to Merseyside before
Brentford’s final game of the season against Liverpool.
“There’s TV screens on pretty much every seat on the bus and I made sure that game was on. A few of the lads weren’t happy but they didn’t have a chance to change it over. My eyes were fixed on it,” he says.
The 25-year-old talks about his home city passionately and tries to return as often as possible. The culture shock of moving to London aged 21 is gone now, although there are still some differences he struggles with, like the lack of chip spice, a seasoning invented in Hull.
“I make sure I grab a tub of that to bring back with me,” he says. “The nutritionists won’t be too happy with that but you’ve got to give me some slack sometimes.”
While he receives the occasional jibe from team-mates for his enthusiasm for his local area, he does have one ally in that department — Fábio Carvalho, who is the closest thing to a fellow Yorkshireman at Brentford after he enjoyed a successful loan spell at the MKM Stadium in 2024.
“I can probably call Fábio an adopted Yorkshireman. He absolutely loved it there and he thinks so much of the club as well,” Lewis-Potter says.
In November 2019, an 18-year-old Lewis-Potter became the first Hull-born player to score in the league since club legend Nick Barmby eight years prior, and so it took very little time to forge a close connection with the fans.
“Being a Hull lad, for the fans to sing my name, it was something that I’d dreamt of ever since I was young,” he says.
Jarrod Bowen was sold to West Ham United just over a month later and Hull went on to be relegated from the Championship that spring. It was while playing in the third tier that the pressure really ramped up on the youngster to perform. Fifteen goals from the wing made him a crucial part of the squad who bounced straight back from League One, and a season later he featured in every Championship match, scoring 12 times.
By that time, Brentford had watched him live on more than 100 occasions and they were satisfied it was the right moment to splash out an initial £16m on Lewis-Potter — the west London club’s record fee at the time.
Prospective Brentford signings are told in detail what the club have noticed about them in their lengthy scouting process, specifically focusing on what their role would be in the team. However, Lewis-Potter is now predominantly playing as a left back for Keith Andrews’ side, which may not have been what he expected.
“The big thing for me was I was coming to a team where I just had to show I’m ready, show I’m available and I will get the game time,” he says.
It is a sentiment particularly appreciated by Andrews, who has referred to Lewis-Potter on several occasions as his “Swiss army knife” due to his trustworthiness and versatility. Against Aston Villa, Lewis-Potter left the back four to play as a No10 while Mikkel Damsgaard and Mathias Jensen recovered from injuries.
He has scored twice already this season — one off last season’s league tally — which he credits to his positional flexibility. He has had the most success in front of goal by arriving late from his deeper role and becoming the free man on the edge of the box.
His defensive capabilities have improved hugely now they are required more regularly, so much so that he is keeping the £40m summer signing El Hadji Malick Diouf out of the side. Lewis-Potter did not idolise any full backs growing up, but his admiration for Wayne Rooney and the “fire he had in his belly” has contributed to the way he plays.
That may be abundantly apparent when he receives a hero’s welcome in East Yorkshire on Sunday in the fixture he has been most looking forward to. There will be plenty of familiar faces in attendance but his Hull-supporting family and friends have promised they will be backing him on the day.
Unfortunately, due to Brentford’s cup fixture in the week, it will then be straight back to London for Lewis-Potter instead of spending some time in his home city, but he is already planning his next visit.
“London is absolutely amazing, probably one of the best cities in the world, but for me, I don’t think anything will compare with Hull,” he says.
Will he be back there in his retirement, then? “Definitely.”
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