£8m Liverpool transfer deal is 'up there' among Hull City's worst signings - claim involves Jimmy Bullard, Andy Robertson | OneFootball

FLW’s Hull City fan pundit has commented whether the Tigers’ previous capture of Kevin Stewart for £8m was their worst-ever signing.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Like any club across the globe, Hull City have made signings that they will deeply regret as time goes on.

Over the course of the last two decades, supporters have had to deal with many highs and lows watching their team.

Hull registered three promotions to the big time under Phil Brown and Steve Bruce, but come 2020, the Yorkshire outfit were resigned to playing third-tier football.

They did return to the Championship at the first time of asking and have since spent five consecutive seasons in the second-tier, hoping that they can make a return to the Premier League at some point with some shrewd recruitment.

Over a time period that resulted in three promotions and four relegations, there will have been players brought into the club that costed sizeable fees but failed to repay the investment on the pitch.

One example is back in 2017, as Hull spent a reported £8 million fee to secure the services of Liverpool midfielder Kevin Stewart, but the former Jamaican international featured just 78 times over three Championship seasons and failed to become an integral player in the heart of their midfield.

With this in mind, FLW’s Hull City fan pundit has reflected on whether the signing of Stewart is the worst one in their history.

Kevin Stewart branded as “bang average”, while Jimmy Bullad & Ryan Mason also listed as poor Hull City signings

Speaking to Football League World, Hull City fan pundit Cameron Gibson believes Kevin Stewart was a “bang average” player and wouldn’t be worth £8 million even in the modern market, while Jimmy Bullard and Ryan Mason were also touted as poor buys by the Tigers over their history.

Cameron explored how Stewart's arrival was linked with the reported £10 million deal which took Andy Robertson to Liverpool, with the Scotsman going on to establish himself among world football's finest full-backs at Anfield while Hull were "robbed blind".

Cameron said: “I think Kevin Stewart was a bang average player, nowhere near £8 million, even in today’s market, eight years down the line, I don’t think he was anywhere near that.

“The worst thing was that it was linked to the Andy Robertson to Liverpool deal, and we got robbed blind for that. We should have got a lot more than £10 million for Robertson, and then we had to pay £8 million for Kevin Stewart. We got absolutely done over there. It was not what you expect to see.

“At that stage, we had the Allams, and they just wanted to get cash in. If I think back to some other poor Hull City transfers in our history, I think in our first-ever spell in the Premier League, we spent £5 million in 2009 on Jimmy Bullard and messed up a clause in his contract which meant he got more wages than he should have done.

"He then ended up getting injured and in the Championship, we just couldn’t get rid of him, so we ended up having to pay his extortionate wages, which we messed up in the contract, had to honour it and pay throughout the Championship.

“He did come back into the side, scored some goals and produced some memorable moments, but we never really saw the best out of Jimmy Bullard and for £5 million at that time in Hull City’s life, that could have been spent elsewhere in the team, kept us up and things could have looked a lot different.

“Another one is our record signing Ryan Mason. Obviously, his career at Hull City was short-lived, playing 20 games and then retiring due to a fractured skull against Chelsea, which was one of Marco Silva’s first games as boss.

“Kevin Stewart is definitely up there (for worst Hull City signing) but there are a few others too.”

Hull City’s £8m capture of Kevin Stewart wasted important funds

After relegation from the Premier League brought Hull back into the second-tier, they possessed superior funds that should have seen them dominate the division and return to the top-flight as quickly as possible.

But it wasn’t the case due to mismanagement in spending, and a lot of that was due to signing Kevin Stewart.

Playing only 78 times across three Championship campaigns tells you all you need to know that the midfielder couldn’t stamp his authority on the team, with the club wasting a huge chunk of resources that could have gone on recruiting better-equipped players for the demands of the division.

Avoiding the signing of Stewart and plowing forward to land other targets could have helped Hull have a much more successful season, but such a waste of their budget landed Hull to finish 18th that season, while they would go on to slide down to League One in the coming years.

Overall, Stewart has to go down as one of Hull’s worst-ever signings, with £8 million such a significant sum of money to spend in that division, while he failed to produce many memorable moments in amber and black.