Sergej Jakirovic has joked that every time he opens his phone, there’s another 80 potential new signings ready and waiting to join Hull City.
The Tigers boss is desperate to see new arrivals come in and bolster his squad with just over two weeks until the Premier League season kicks off.
Though the Tigers have so far signed four players, only Jack Butland is fit, and the squad has been hit by a flurry of injuries once again, which is causing concern with the new season edging ever closer.
There are, however, two signings on the verge of being announced with two club record deals. Konstantinos Tzolakis and defender Nobel Mendy are set to be confirmed over the next couple of days and will be part of the squad that travels to Frankfurt this weekend.
City are also closing in on a deal for Colorado Rapids’ Australian defender Lucas Herrington, as well as Tromso’s highly-rated midfielder Jens Hjertø-Dahl, and they hope others are not too far away from being completed. As Hull Live reported earlier this summer, Everton’s Tim Iroegbunam remains a firm target.
Keen to bolster their wide options, the Tigers are also hoping to clinch a deal for Nice winger Mohamed Ali-Cho and have eyes on another forward.
“I know about the player,” he said of the Norwegian Under-21 starlet. “He’s a young player with big potential, so we will see, but he’s Tromso’s player, he’s not our player, I cannot comment on this.
“It’s the same situation with Herrington, I know the player, he played in the World Cup (for Australia), which is a little bit dangerous because the price is flying in the clouds, and we will see. He is also a very young player with a big potential. Can we finish that, or will we take another player?
“If I open my phone, I have 80 players inside, so we can comment on all players, but they are all very interesting players, and we will see how many we can finish.”
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City’s list of absentees in their final friendly of their trip away against Kasimpasa was concerning, especially against a backdrop of problems last season.
Lewie Coyle, Charlie Hughes, Hidemasa Morita, Darko Gyabi, Matty Jacob, Matt Targett and Oscar Zambrano were all unavailable, while Cody Drameh came off at the break with a slight issue.
Jakirovic again reiterated the need for speed to get the right players in as soon as possible, to give them time to bed into his group and be ready for the start of the top-flight season.
“We are struggling with injuries, but this is all the old problems, and it is still a problem for us. As a coach, I want every day a new player. If it’s possible, what is our target? It’s very slow, so we will see, but we need players, we need quality who can improve this team because there is a good spine with players who brought us to the Premier League. We now need to add some qualities there, and we are working on it.”
On Mendy, who caught the eye playing in Spain with Rayo Vallecano last season, the City boss added, “He’s a left-footed centre back, quick, capable of playing in the right spaces, good on the ball, a lot of experience in the Spanish Primera Division. At this level, he’s what we need.”
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