List I saw had forest and Koln matching 4m. May be bollocks,.but you'd think they could afford to match our offer easily enough if they really wanted him. Maybe we could allow him to chose the winners on survivor though, which the other clubs can't
He was at the Leicester game with a knee brace on. I assume the surgery is now done and he’s now doing Physiotherapy.
Totally agree and hotter than hell. Sounds exciting and exotic but it’s really not and to cap it off it a traffic nightmare. Much better living in Ferriby The Caves or similar
From Phil Buckingham via The Atheltic: What do you get when you cross an Iranian, a Ghanaian, an Ivorian and a Colombian with two Turks, a Portuguese and an Englishman? A ticket to the Premier League. Or so hope Hull City, whose cosmopolitan summer of recruitment has spanned four continents. “Play-offs? We have to,” says Tan Kesler, vice-chairman of Hull City. “We’re investing in such a way that we have to do it. I can assure you that’s the plan, not a dream. “Anything below the top six, I would be disappointed. So would the owner.” This is a very different Hull City to the one that drifted through much of last season. A January takeover led by Acun Ilicali, the Turkish TV mogul, has transformed a club that had become acutely aware of its limitations. Now all the talk is of “dreams” and challenging for promotion. Ambition has kicked pragmatism into the long grass. The Championship has chewed up and spat out plenty of misty-eyed, misguided owners down the years, but Ilicali will start his first full season giving little thought to failure. “He competes in everything he does,” says Kesler. “He will bring that here. We might achieve it today or tomorrow but we’re here to achieve it. We’re not here to fall short and walk away.” Hull’s approach to a season that begins at home to Bristol City on Saturday is nothing if not bold under head coach Shota Arveladze. As well as stripping out a British spine well-versed in the ways of the Championship — including former captain Richie Smallwood, midfielder Tom Huddlestone and forward Tom Eaves — they saw fit to sanction the sale of popular midfielder George Honeyman to Millwall for an undisclosed fee. Ilicali, second from right, has led huge changes at the club with Kesler, left, head coach Arveladze, second from left, and new transfer Ozan Tufan (Photo: Emrah Yorulmaz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The transfer of Keane Lewis-Potter, one of the EFL’s most prized assets, to Brentford in a deal worth potentially £20million ($24million), was close to inevitable, but it has been the players signed as replacements who have captured a new direction of travel. Like Jean Michael Seri and Tobias Figueiredo, free agents and promotion winners with Fulham and Nottingham Forest last season, and the £3million permanent signing of Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, the forward who will be part of Iran’s squad at the World Cup finals in November. The capture of Ozan Tufan and Dogukan Sinik, Turkey internationals costing £4million apiece, have tapped into a market well-known by Ilicali and Kesler, as has the capture of Benjamin Tetteh, the Ghana international from Turkish Super Lig club Yeni Malatyaspor. Oscar Estupinan, a Colombian centre-forward, is another eye-catching signing, as was Adama Traore, the Mali international, until he suffered a hamstring injury in pre-season training before his signing had even been confirmed. Even in a division as wild as the Championship, this has been a summer to raise eyebrows. The wage structure, notoriously tight under previous owners, has been overhauled. Only goalkeeper Nathan Baxter, signed on a season-long from Chelsea, has arrived with English as his first language. “We believe that international talent can work with our local talent,” says Kesler. “The players we have signed have played at a very high level but they can also pass on their experience to younger players. “If we’re all playing in the same playground (with recruitment), then we’ll just beat each other up.” Much of the spending was levelled out by the sale of Lewis-Potter, who became Brentford’s record signing. An initial payment of £16million could climb to £20million in additional payments if the England Under-21 international and academy product is a success in the capital. Comparisons have been drawn between Lewis-Potter and Jarrod Bowen, another young winger who made his name in East Yorkshire and continues to have a legacy at the club he left in January 2020. Add-ons in his initial £14million move to West Ham United have driven up the money banked from Bowen in the last 12 months but, as per an arrangement in the takeover, that goes to the Allam family, who sold Hull to Ilicali for £20million in January. The Athletic understands that would also include any future sell-on fee, believed to stand between 10 and 15 per cent. A fifth England cap, with Bowen winning his first four last month, would bring a payment to the Allams indirectly from West Ham. Ilicali, who was content to allow those contingencies, prefers to look only to a future. He makes no secret of his desire to see Hull playing in the Premier League and expects the summer overhaul to transform the outlook of a squad that finished 19th in the Championship last term. That was considered a success of sorts after winning the League One title under Grant McCann 12 months earlier, but not for Ilicali. “Sometimes you come out of nowhere in the Championship and there’s always one team that does this,” says Kesler. “I’m not trying to put a target on our back as a club but if you come out of nowhere then it’s better sometimes. “There is historical data that shows you it happens. And if you don’t dream, it won’t happen, you know? I can’t sit here and tell you that we want to finish in 14th because we were 19th last season. “Why? Twelfth, 14th, 15th, it’s the same thing. You can’t have that as a goal. I look at my job every day and if I lose my competitive edge then I’ll be retired. I wouldn’t be able to have any impact on the organisation. The owner is the same.” please log in to view this image Sayyadmanesh arrived last season and is expected to play at the World Cup with Iran (Photo: Kieran Cleeves/PA Images via Getty Images) Ilicali is a natural showman, reviving a fanbase that had grown disenchanted with the club’s former owners. He flew his new-look team out to Turkey this summer to face his boyhood club Fenerbahce in front of 25,000 fans at the Sakarya Ataturk Stadium. There was a press conference led by Ilicali and a stylish video made of Hull’s branded team bus crossing the Bosphorus Bridge. The aerial footage, shared on Ilicali’s social media platforms, was accompanied by Status Quo’s Rockin’ All Over the World. Supporters lapped it up, as they have with much Ilicali has said and done since bouncing into English football midway through last season. Ilicali, who made his fortune through his TV production company, has been everything the Allam family were not. He has spoken with passion and drive, revving up fans who he has made a point of engaging with. The Botanic pub, which once carried a six-foot Allam Out banner on its exterior wall, welcomed Ilicali and cast members of Survivor Turkey, a TV show he hosts, for drinks after last season ended with a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest at the MKM Stadium. Ilicali was behind the bar, singing and serving locals. Ticket prices have been cut, too. Supporters aged 10 and under can attend for free, while adult season passes start at £300. More than 12,500 fans have signed up for the season ahead. “I feel the buzz in town,” says Kesler. “You only have to interact with the fans to see this.” There is an intent to make Hull the second club of football fans in Turkey, where Ilicali has built up an Instagram following of almost 14 million people. Two new sponsors have been signed up this summer and both were Turkish. Corendon Airlines, which has branded up a Hull City plane, will adorn the front of shirts, while Tomya, the crypto-trading firm, was recruited as another partner. There will be cynicism from around the Championship that this project will end without the success Ilicali craves. Some will regard these changes, which began with the sacking of McCann and the appointment of Arveladze, as too much, too quickly. Seri and Figueiredo might be familiar with the Championship, but other signings are not. Some might flourish but, as history shows at this level, there will be some that flop. There is uncertainty and unpredictability but, to most supporters, that beats the mundane existence of before. “We don’t have the magic touch but we’re doing everything in our power to get to the play-offs,” says Kesler. “If we didn’t get there it would disappoint us, but it wouldn’t discourage us. It would just make us more motivated to come back. “Acun comes from nothing and he’s inspiring. I have tremendous respect for what he’s achieved. I wish I could just do half of it. He’s become a media mogul after starting as a reporter. If you’re not successful, he will come back and find a way. He will find the solutions. We know we will make mistakes, but we know we will recover quickly.” Hull City are recovering, too. They have suddenly become one of the Championship’s most interesting clubs. It might work. It might not. But it will be worth watching. So, as it turns out, the Allams are getting some of the Bowen money.
The transfer of Anthony Nwakaeme is off, he has left England with agent and representatives. Don't let the door of Acun's private jet hit you on the way out son.
Ball winner would help as well. Wonder who Baz is saying is lined up as a possible signing ahead of Sat? We know Nwakaeme is off but he said possibly 2.
More than a creative midfielder for me. Would allow Seri to be more expansive getting the ball forward more
You can shorten that list of countries by just saying former Turkish league players. I feel like Caulker will be next after Pelkas, since he is from England and already out of Fenerbahce squad and moreover Fenerbahce have to offload 6 foreign players to meet foreign player limit criteria of the Turkish League.
