Hull City face another major summer of upheaval as the Tigers look to avoid a repeat of last season’s near-disaster in suffering relegation from the Championship.
After surviving by goal difference on the final day of the season, City sacked Ruben Selles and have now appointed Sergej Jakirovic as his successor.
Jakirovic will need to be armed with a significant transfer kitty if he’s to put his own stamp on the squad and ensure he’s ready for the opening weekend of the season in early August.
Central to that will be bringing in attacking players capable of making a difference in the final third of the pitch, after City finished last season as the lowest scorers in the league, but attacking recruits are not the only ones viewed as vitally important.
Here, Hull Live takes a look at what would represent a fine window for the Tigers….
Snap up Oliver McBurnie
City have been in talks with the 29-year-old striker for a number of weeks now, and hope to get a deal over the line. Signing a player like McBurnie will not only add firepower to their squad, but also a little bit of devilment to their ranks.
McBurnie won’t come cheap in terms of salary, even if he arrives on a free transfer, but he will be a useful asset to the squad and provide them with a focal point up front.
Goals were a massive problem last season, and while the Scotsman isn’t the most prolific, if he can get close to the 22 goals he bagged for Swansea City in the 2018/19 campaign, they’ll be laughing.
Seal a deal for Lewis O’Brien
City have tracked the midfielder for quite a while and have been unable to get a deal done previously with the Nottingham Forest midfielder spending two spells on loan in the MLS as well as stints at Boro and Swansea City.
This summer, however, City believe they’ve got a good chance of bringing the 26-year-old to the MKM Stadium and are working hard to get a deal done.
Any move for O’Brien would almost certainly be a loan but he is out of contract next summer so City would land themselves in prime position to get him for free in a year’s time.
Having him in their midfield for the start of the season would be a huge coup for the Tigers and represent one of the best pieces of business they could do this summer.
Crucially, there’s a willingness from all sides to get a deal done. Forest are happy to let him go as he is not part of their plans. City want the player and O’Brien wants to get his future resolved sooner rather than later. Him coming to the MKM Stadium is not a foregone conclusion, however, as there is other interest.
Add more creativity
Bringing in McBurnie will be a good start, but it cannot end there. City need other options, and importantly, they need creativity in their ranks.
There wasn’t a huge amount of that last season, and that must be a focus. Getting Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi back will be important, but caution is also needed, given they’ve been out for so long.
City still need a playmaker. The players they’ve been targeting so far shows that, but a player like Fabio Carvalho who can operate in the number position and create. Maybe they’ve got him already in Kasey Palmer, and that will be the challenge for Jakirovic in trying to get the best out of what they’ve already got, as well as strengthening in the market.
Sort out the left-back
City are working on a specific target at left-back and hope to get that one rattled off quickly. Everybody knows the issues in that area last season, despite spending £4m on Ryan Giles.
Giles is back after his disappointing loan stay back at Boro but he’s unlikely to be heading back to Teesside after the departure of Michael Carrick and Jonathan Woodgate, his two biggest supporters within the corridors of power at the Riverside Stadium. There is tentative loan interest in him but nothing concrete at this stage.
Matty Jacob is on his way out, so bringing in a left-back is of paramount importance to the new head coach, and a Premier League loanee could be the way forward.
Having that boxed off early in pre-season would be an important coup.
Move out the fringe players
City’s squad last season had a lot of players that were on good money but moved out on loan. The likes of Anthony Racioppi, Marvin Mehlem, Abdus Omur and Giles.
What becomes of them is important. Do any of them have a future? It looks unlikely at this stage, but moving them off the wage bill is important because City cannot continue to pay big salaries to players not having any impact.
Jakirovic won’t want a huge squad of players sitting in the stands, so if they’re not going to be a part of his squad, then they need to be moved on so they can play regular football.
Don’t hang around
Reda Laalaoui was City’s first arrival of the summer, and he’s been followed by Dillon Phillips and Semi Ajayi on free transfers this past week. Speed is important after the mistakes of last summer, and they’re trying.
For all the deserved criticism of last term, it would appear some lessons have been heeded but one swallow does not make a summer, and that haste must continue.
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