Transfer Rumours Summer 2025 Transfer Thread…

Is Petkovic a free agent? His Instagram shows him very much involved with Zagreb doesn't it?

 

Scrap this haha, getting my eastern Europeans mixed up! Someone mentioned another striker from Zagreb being a free agent and I don't think he is, just checked and he wasn't called Petkovic

 

He is, yeah. Just checked and this was his last post.



Are you sure you’re not confusing him with Sandro Kulenović?

 

Yeah, Kulenovic. Someone just posted that he was now a free agent and we had made contact with him. Can't see it

 

Ah, right. I actually thought Kulenović was a free agent too a few weeks ago but it turns out he’s contracted until 2027. He’d also cost around £6M as well but that’s irrelevant as we can’t pay fees.

Petković is definitely a free agent though. He’s been negotiating with a couple of clubs from Turkey and Spain this summer.

 

I'm not sure about the morale argument. Players get paid what clubs are willing to pay them and when there's no transfer fee he can essentially ask for whatever he thinks he can get away with. I'm sure the other players know how this generally tends to work by now, and in the long run, if he adds to the team then I can see it having a positive effect on morale, not a negative one. It sounds like Sinik was on a fair packet and he'd been here years without really kicking a ball. Surely if the players can handle that scenario, McBurnie coming in on more money wouldn't be a problem if we're scoring goals?

 

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/hull-city-given-green-light-10348259

Hull City remain hopeful of striking a deal to sign Westerlo forward Matija Frigan in a bid to bolster their attacking ranks as the season draws ever closer, with a growing belief that a loan deal is getting close to being completed.

Frigan remains one of the City’s top summer targets and it’s understood the 22-year-old has held positive discussions with the Tigers over a move to the MKM Stadium.

The Croatian is believed to be keen on making the move to East Yorkshire and has been given the green light by the Belgian club to hold talks with Sergej Jakirovic, whom he played under at Rijeka.

City, who came from behind to beat Istanbulspor 2-1 in a friendly on Tuesday evening, are working on a host of targets as they await the outcome of their appeal to the EFL over a three-window transfer fee restriction.

The club hope to know the outcome of that appeal by the end of the month. In the meantime, they know they must arm Jakirovic with the tools to be competitive in the Championship, and bolstering a forward line that scored just 44 goals last term will be central to that.

Though the club have other options in the top third of the pitch, Frigan is right at the top of the club’s list with a loan deal most likely for now, given their transfer fee ban.

As it stands, the club cannot pay a transfer or loan fee under the terms of their EFL restriction so any deal for Frigan would need to fall under that bracket with City only paying a percentage of his wages.

 

I know there's good relations between the owners (Westerlo and us) but I wonder if they still owe us money for Allahyar, which might help quietly grease a seemingly remarkable deal for us to sign Frigan?

I normally pay little attention to friendlies, but given the situation this pre-season, if we can end it with one or two youth (Brown and Cormac McCarthy for example) looking ready to be Championship squad players with further potential to develop, that would ease the burden massively. Friendlies in Turkey don't mean a lot, but still mean something along the way.

 

“Croatian midfielder pretty close” I got told yesterday, free agent.

Also the club has supposedly been in contact with Dinamo Zagreb about potentially taking a couple of lads on loan. Not sure which of Dinamo’s players they’d let go for free which would also be simultaneously good enough to make a difference to our squad, but it’s a good idea.

I thought that Cham guy for Istanbulspor looked very tidy for them yesterday, be worth having another look at him.

Not that this would ever happen, but the Russian league is still going and yet still banned from competitions, bet there are some players who want out in there.

 

In Toast we trust.

 

I think Istanbulspor being one of the smaller clubs in the Turkish second division (think Oxford sized) maybe went over a few heads on here. Not to take anything away from the lads because you can only beat what’s in front of you and the heat will have been punishing, but I would have expected a win with the squad we have. There was some very good play and we certainly got forward a lot quicker than under recent managers, definitely more positives than negatives.

Saturday’s game will be a much better reflection of where we are at. Harris Hajradinovic is a nasty little ****er in their midfield too. Goal scoring attacking midfielder with a good long range shot on him.

 

I think Istanbulspor being one of the smaller clubs in the Turkish second division (think Oxford sized) maybe went over a few heads on here. Not to take anything away from the lads because you can only beat what’s in front of you and the heat will have been punishing, but I would have expected a win with the squad we have. There was some very good play and we certainly got forward a lot quicker than under recent managers, definitely more positives than negatives.

Saturday’s game will be a much better reflection of where we are at. Haris Hajradinovic is a nasty little ****er in their midfield too. Goal scoring attacking midfielder with a good long range shot on him.

 

I said the same a few weeks ago and I also suspect that’s one of the reasons we got Pandur from Fortuna Sittard for a relatively cheap fee (£1.5M). Maybe Acun forgave any outstanding debts owed to him from Fortuna Sittard?

I think it’s pretty clear now Acun plays fast and loose with how transfer agreements and outstanding debts are structured. He wanted to pay off the Barry loan fee with the money owed to us for Philogene. He asked Villa and Ipswich to settle the transfer fees for Philogene and Greaves in full earlier than agreed (presumably for less money overall which would mean we won’t get the full transfer fees originally reported). It wouldn’t be ridiculous to assume he’s forgiven any future instalments for Allahyar to get Westerlo to loan us Frigan without an initial loan fee but with a mandatory buy-clause at the end.

 

It’s a good gamble for them, a player comes here and has a good season and all of a sudden they’re worth a fortune.

 

Absolutely, plus they get experience of what a real physio’s treatment room looks like.

 

I’d bet decent money that it’s Kristijan Bistrović. Recently released from CSKA Moscow. I think I’ve mentioned him before.

Regarding the Russian league in general, I’d love Veldin Hodža. He looked great in the Rijeka matches I watched under Jakirović. He seems happy at Rubin Kazan though and he cost them a few million. I’d take Mathias Normann as well on a free.

 

Acun strikes me as the kind of guy whose pocket you don’t want to end up in and builds transactional relationships that he can take advantage of later.

I’d expect a loan or two from Villa, I did wonder if the left back coming in on loan might be Lino Sousa.

 

Bistrovic any good?

 

On pievic and beefvic , mainly.