What Acun Ilicali thinks about Hull City's play-off chances - 'one of the best' claim dropped | OneFootball

The Tigers have been one of the Championship's surprise packages this season

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali believes the Tigers have a play-off standard squad at their disposal as Sergej Jakirovic recently saw a plethora of high-profile absentees return to action.

The first four months of the Championship season have been a welcome surprise to all associated with the East Yorkshire outfit, who moved to appoint current Bosnian head coach, Sergej Jakirovic, after narrowly avoiding relegation to League One under Ruben Selles.

It was a disastrous campaign last time out for the Tigers who, just 12 months beforehand, had blown the chance of making a return to the Premier League for the first time since Steve Bruce's final season at the MKM Stadium nine years ago amid a raft of high-profile names who have since gone on to flourish for divisional rivals or clubs in the Premier League and across Europe.

Ilicali's tenure as the club's owner has been extremely chaotic, to say the least, with the Turkish media mogul well-known for being transparent with supporters, often hosting question and answer sessions in hospitality suites at the MKM, as well as inviting a select few supporters on free holidays to his home country.

Given the club's slide down the Championship standings under Selles and Tim Walter last season, Ilicali was the subject of intense criticism from some sections of the fanbase, and such internal and external scepticism only grew when the club were hit with a transfer fee restriction by the EFL for non-payments.

To his credit, though, the newly-appointed Jakirovic has certainly repaid Ilicali's faith, with the vast majority of his 12 incomings on free transfers or loan deals without any extra payments required becoming instant hits, such as the returning Joe Gelhardt and Oli McBurnie.

The former, of course, is currently sidelined. However, City supporters have recently been reminded of the top talent possessed by wide duo, Mohamed Belloumi and Liam Millar, whose recent performances in back-to-back victories over Wrexham and Millwall will have no doubt influenced Ilicali's bold claim, which he came out with on talkSPORT as a guest of Jim White and Simon Jordan's mid-morning show.

Indeed, it is now three wins in four games for Jakirovic's side, who saw a dismal 4-1 defeat against Middlesbrough on December 5th sandwiched inbetween statement victories over Stoke City, the Red Dragons and the Lions.

The aforementioned Belloumi and Millar had returned from lengthy ACL absences in September, but had since suffered hamstring issues shortly afterward, sidelining the Algerian and Canadian wingers for another short period.

Oli McBurnie was also sidelined with a calf injury between October and the start of December, but has since scored two in two upon his return to fitness, with the aforementioned wingers also posting an assist each as Kyle Joseph made it three goals in two games for himself over the course of the weekend.

As such, injury concerns which had threatened to put a spanner in the works have lessened, with former AS Monaco midfielder, Eliot Matazo, also nearing a return to availability having suffered an ACL injury against Cardiff City on February 25th, in what was just his sixth appearance for the Yorkshire side.

Speaking to White and Jordan, Ilicali believes the side who have scored 36 times and conceded one fewer, have one of the Championship's strongest squads.

“First, I wanted to make a team, a family team that everybody enjoys and wants to play there and what we've managed now, I think, the players want to come to us," said the Tigers owner.

“They are talking to other players to come to us. One player is so happy, he brings new players, so I can say now that our squad is one of the best squads in the Championship.

“You will see that our players are extremely good. Unfortunately, we had three ACLs last year which affected us so big," he added.

“Now they are coming from the injury, I can say that as squad power we are in maybe top six for sure, and my aim, my target is of course Premier League, but for this year I just wanted improvement from them.

“I put a target like top ten for this year because I want improvement but I'm sure that Hull will be in a place where all the fans will be proud, because our fans are so beautiful, so supportive I can say that I'm proud of them," Ilicali stated.

“So I will give everything, everything to take this club to Premier League, where it has to be with this beautiful city and with these beautiful fans. But I can say that I just came over in a position that I'm really happy.”

Hull City could be set for timely defensive boost in January window

As previously highlighted, Hull have been one of the division's most entertaining sides to watch thus far, scoring and shipping goals in equal measure, although Jakirovic has raised concerns regarding defensive shortcomings.

The Tigers are currently just 15 points away from matching their entire total for last season with 25 games remaining, and supporters are starting to believe that the previously unthinkable could be on the cards.

They could also be set for a timely boost to their defence. Nigerian defender and second tier stalwart, Semi Ajayi, has linked up with his nation ahead of the African Cup of Nations, whilst Football League World exclusively revealed that City are amongst a queue of Championship sides plotting a loan swoop for Burnley's versatile defender, Bashir Humphreys.

The former Chelsea man made 25 league appearances for the Clarets as they earned 100 points with a record-breaking defence last term, with his solitary goal, ironically, coming against Hull in February.