Acun Ilicali Posted Hull City’s Transfer List in Public

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali posted the club’s live transfer sheet on 23 July, with flags and percentages in place of names. He said he wanted to stop false rumours. The Premier League window then ran another 40 days and shut on 1 September with 18 first-team arrivals.

The list did not stay cryptic. Twelve days later he marked it himself. The public scorecard can now be read against a closed market.

The Owner Posted the Club’s Live Deal Sheet

Ilicali wrote to “Hull City family” that the club was reading “dozens of false transfer rumors,” and that he was “disturbed by the claims that we have been rejected and by the use of our club’s name to gain attention.” He said the staff had been working intensively for two months, then offered “our latest transfer situation, which includes some clues.”

To prevent false speculation and to give you more information, I am leaving you with our latest transfer situation, which includes some clues:)

Acun Ilicali, Hull City owner, on X

Three names already carried green ticks: Jack Butland, Oscar Zambrano and Matt Targett. Under a divider sat 11 unnamed lines, each a flag and a percentage from 60% to 99%.

https://x.com/acunilicali/status/2080239210615714302

He later said agents had been using Hull’s name and giving fans hope the club had not authorised. When he looked at the nationalities on the sheet, he said, it felt like the United Nations. The first replies did not treat that as a leak to shut down. They treated it as a parlour game, filling the flags with joke names, which is the opposite of killing rumours.

Twelve Days Later He Published Ticks and Crosses

On 3 August he promised an upgraded list for the next day. At 22:58 UTC on 4 August he posted ticks and crosses on the original flags, and warned that some ticks were “fully agreed and in the paperwork process.” Two minutes later he added an upgraded list of 18 lines, stretching from completed names down to an England flag at 30%.

Of the 11 unnamed lines from 23 July, eight were ticked and three were crossed. Norway, which had not been on the first post, appeared as a new tick. Jamaica was ticked too.

THE 23 JULY LIST, MARKED

The club never printed those names next to the flags. The conversions above are the ones that then showed up in announcements, or, in Bailey’s case, in a deal Hull later killed.

Most of the High Percentages Became Contracts

Morita, 31, left Sporting CP as a free agent and signed a two-year deal with a club option. Hull announced him on 25 July, two days after the Japan line sat at 99%. He has 40 Japan caps and won two Portuguese titles plus a Portuguese Cup in Lisbon.

The Greece line at 90% was Tzolakis. On 5 August the 23-year-old joined from Olympiacos on a five-year contract in a club-record deal put at around £20m plus add-ons. He had made 131 appearances for Olympiacos, won the 2023-24 Conference League, and has nine Greece caps. He made his Hull debut in a 2-0 home win over Manchester United on 22 August.

I wanted to come to Hull City because the Premier League is the top stage.

Konstantinos Tzolakis, goalkeeper, on joining Hull

The Senegal tick became Mendy, who moved from Rayo Vallecano on 12 August for £22m. The same day Lucas Herrington arrived from Colorado Rapids for £17m. Elliot Stroud had already come in from Mjällby AIF on 9 August for £3.5m, matching the Sweden flag that had sat at 90%.

Norway, added as a tick on 4 August, was Jens Hjertø-Dahl from Tromsø, signed on 7 August for £8m. A France tick aligned with Mohamed-Ali Cho, who arrived from Nice on 27 August for £13m. Several of those deals had been sitting in public, with a number attached, while the selling clubs still had a signature to give.

Hull Ticked Jamaica, Then Walked Away

The Jamaica line at 70% was read as Leon Bailey, then ticked on 4 August as if the paperwork were in motion. Head coach Sergej Jakirovic later called the situation a mess. Hull expected the winger in, then pulled out after the terms kept moving.

Bailey’s agent, Craig Butler, still described Hull as “a very good club” and “very interested,” with “details that have to be worked out.” Those details were not worked out. Mohamed-Ali Cho and, on deadline day, Sorba Thomas arrived to play on the flanks instead. Bailey left Aston Villa by another route.

A public tick is a promise fans can screenshot. When the tick is wrong, the owner who posted it owns the miss as well as the hits.

What the Public List Cost Hull in Leverage

Percentages do not sign contracts. The three crosses on 4 August were the cleanest proof, and later lines that Ilicali still talked up in August also failed to land.

THE FLAGS THAT DID NOT BECOME SIGNINGS

• Portugal, 80%: Crossed on 4 August, and no Portuguese first-team player joined.
• Japan, 60%: Crossed on 4 August after being the weakest Japan line on the first sheet.
• Croatia, 80%: Widely read as Marco Pasalic of Orlando City, then crossed; he did not join.
• Turkey/Germany, 70%: Ticked on 4 August, with Mert Kömür named around that clue, but he is not among the 18.
• Later names: Ilicali said in mid-August that a Pablo Garcia deal was 90% done and that Yeremay Hernández was “somewhere where it looks positive.” Neither is in the finished intake.

Once a buying club prints 90% next to a flag, the selling club knows the buyer has already told its own supporters the deal is nearly home. Hull still got Tzolakis through that glare. It did not get Bailey, Pasalic, Garcia or Hernández. Ilicali told supporters the July post was meant to stop other people using the club’s name. It also handed every remaining counterparty a map of how badly Hull wanted the next name.

Eighteen New Players After Nine Years Away

Hull last played in the Premier League in 2016-17. They finished sixth in the Championship in 2025-26 and beat Middlesbrough in the play-off final. Ilicali said before the window that the total budget would be around £200m, with £130m for fees and £70m or £80m for salaries, and that he thought they would land 80% of the players in their heads.

They signed 18 first-team players, six of them on 1 September after the window had already become a scramble. Tim Iroegbunam joined from Everton on a five-year contract for an initial £13m that can rise by £9m. Brooke Norton-Cuffy arrived from Genoa for £12m, with Cody Drameh going the other way for £3.4m. Ilyas Ansah came from Union Berlin for 15m euros (£12.8m) plus 12m euros (£10.2m) in add-ons. Christos Mouzakitis, 19, followed from Olympiacos for a reported £13m. Sorba Thomas signed a four-year deal from Stoke after 10 goals and 13 assists in 45 Championship matches. Roma’s Robinio Vaz, 19, joined on loan with an option to buy.

FROM THE FIRST POST TO DEADLINE DAY

1. 23 July 2026: Ilicali posts three signed names and 11 flagged targets.
2. 25 July 2026: Hull announces Morita on a free transfer.
3. 4 August 2026: He marks the first sheet and publishes 18 lines of new clues.
4. 5 August 2026: Tzolakis signs in a club-record deal.
5. 12 August 2026: Mendy and Herrington complete the centre-back spend.
6. 1 September 2026: Six more players arrive before the 11pm deadline, taking the first-team intake to 18.

HULL’S CLOSED WINDOW IN BRIEF

• 18 first-team arrivals: 17 permanent deals and the Vaz loan, after Butland’s £3m move from Rangers on 2 July opened the summer.
• Six on deadline day: Ansah, Iroegbunam, Vaz, Thomas, Norton-Cuffy and Mouzakitis.
• Opening result: Tzolakis starts the 2-0 win over Manchester United on 22 August.
• Early points: 7 from the first 3 league matches, including that United win and a 1-0 against Coventry.

Joe Gelhardt returned on a permanent from Leeds for £6.5m on 15 August, the same day Lucas Gourna-Douath arrived from Red Bull Salzburg for £3m. Targett had joined from Newcastle on a free on 23 July, hours before the first flags went up. Those names now sit in the club’s published first-team squad beside the players kept on the retained list after promotion.

The 18 arrivals belong to a Premier League summer of done deals in which newly promoted clubs spent like they expected a fight. Hull took 7 points from their first 3 league games. Ilicali has already said talks about adding Turkish players could run into the winter window, after he had spent July telling Turkish media that Super Lig wages were not a Premier League fit.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Did Acun Ilicali Take Over Hull City?

He completed the takeover in January 2022 through Acun Medya, the Turkish media group that still owns the club. Hull were a Championship side then, and the 2026 play-off win is his first promotion as owner.

Did Hull City Have a Transfer Embargo Last Season?

Yes. In the 2025 summer window and the winter window that followed, the club could not pay transfer or loan fees and had to recruit on frees. Oli McBurnie arrived that way from Las Palmas on 6 August 2025 and stayed as the main striker into this Premier League season.

What Was Hull’s Transfer Record Before Tzolakis?

They paid Tottenham £13m for midfielder Ryan Mason in 2016. That mark stood for a decade until the Tzolakis deal in August, and several of this summer’s fees now sit above it.

How Long Is Hidemasa Morita’s Contract at Hull?

Two years, with a club option for a third. He left Sporting as a free agent after 11 goals and 16 assists in 166 games there, and he was left out of Japan’s 2026 World Cup squad before the move was announced.

Who Is Sergej Jakirovic at Hull City?

He is the head coach who took the Tigers from a Championship relegation fight to the 2026 play-off title. He signed a new two-year contract in early September after the start to the Premier League season, and Ilicali has said that if the project fails it will not be Jakirovic’s fault.

The July post is still on his account, sitting above a finished squad that mostly matches the high percentages and quietly drops the rest. The flags did their job for the deals that were already close. They also left a public tick on a winger who never arrived.