A flurry of sales in the past 24 hours means Hull City have fallen on the right side of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and can look forward to the rest of the summer without any threat of sanctions.
City were forced into trying to recoup around £6m in funds before the June 30 cut-off period to avoid any potential punishment from the Premier League, and they’ve been frantically trying to get deals done.
Ivor Pandur’s £6m switch to Rangers helped clear the decks, as has Under-21 starlet Aidon Shehu’s £2.6m move to Greek giants Panathinaikos. Akin Famewo and Kasey Palmer have also been moved on to ensure the club has nothing to worry about.
Kyle Joseph’s move to Middlesbrough has stalled for now, but that deal being held up hasn’t had any impact on the club’s financial position.
Acun Ilicali highlighted before Christmas the need for the club to cut its cloth accordingly, irrespective of promotion, and that was the job sporting director Jared Dublin had been tasked with over the past few weeks.
Any potential breach would have seen City charged by the Premier League, despite the club being in the Championship for the past three seasons prior to their promotion at Wembley in May.
That punishment could have been just a fine, or at worst, a points deduction, which would have had a devastating and embarrassing impact on the newly-promoted Tigers.
Thankfully, however, bosses at the MKM Stadium have been working hard in recent weeks to structure deals that will help them bridge the gap and ensure their figures for the three-year accounting period fall well within the £39m permitted losses.
Joseph’s £5m move to Boro, who City beat in the play-off final at Wembley in May, would see the Tigers earn a significant profit on a player they bought for £2.5m in January 2025 and scored eight goals in 65 appearances, provided it can be resurrected in the near future.
Pandur, currently on World Cup duty in the USA with Croatia as he awaits his first senior international appearance, has joined Glasgow giants Rangers in a deal worth around £6m, with ex-England goalkeeper Jack Butland coming in the opposite direction for around £3m. The 26-year-old Pandur joined the Tigers from Fortuna Sittard for around £1.5m in January 2024, meaning another significant profit on the books.
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That means the Tigers stand to recoup around £11m from the two players, an overall profit of around £7m based on what they paid initially to sign the two popular figures, however due to amortisation rules which see the value paid for a player diminish over time, the profit logged on the books will be significantly higher. Shehu’s move to Greece was not a deal City wanted to do, but felt they had little choice because of their situation.
The Albanian Under-21 ace, who joined from Southend United in 2024, will move to Athens, and his fee will be classed as pure profit for the club. Akin Famewo’s move to Bolton Wanderers and Kasey Palmer’s switch will also boost the finances, ahead of the club’s Premier League windfall, and give players the chance to get regular football, something they would not have got in the top flight.
Both Pandur and Joseph were instrumental in helping the Tigers win promotion last season, and have a shot at the Premier League, with their sales also ensuring the club will not face any punishment as they prepare for their first campaign back in the top flight for a decade.
Butland’s arrival is also expected to kick-start a flurry of activity with players beginning to arrive, in the hope of having a fair amount of business completed by the time Sergej Jakirovic’s squad head out to Slovenia for the first leg of their pre-season training camp on July 20.
The Tigers will be looking to move out other fringe players in the next few weeks to free up space in their squad, and on their wage bill, whilst giving those unlikely to feature much this season the chance to play regular football.
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