Acun Ilicali names ex-Man Utd player and Galatasaray star as dream Hull City signings | OneFootball

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has revealed that he would sign Fenerbahçe midfielder Fred and Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera if he could.

In an interview with Turkish outlet Sabah, Ilicali spoke about his admiration for the pair and said that if he could, he would like to bring the Turkish Süper Lig duo to the MKM Stadium.

Fred is a well-known player in this country thanks to a spell with Manchester United between 2018 and 2023 and Muslera has spent over a decade with Galatasaray, currently captaining the club.

These dream signings look out of reach while the Tigers remain a Championship club but Ilicali has shown in the past that he's willing to make big moves in a bid to hell his team return to the Premier League after being out of the top-flight of English football since 2017.

Acun Ilicali on Fred and Fernando Muslera

In an interview with Turkish outlet Sabah, Ilicali was asked which players he would sign from the Turkish Süper Lig if he could sign anyone from the league.

The Tigers' owner replied: “If I had the right to buy two footballers at the end of the season, I would close my eyes and buy Fred. Seri-Fred-Ozan trio would be so good that you can sit and watch it with pleasure. I would also buy Muslera. Take Muslera, welcome to the Premier League.”

It's clearly unlikely that Hull would be able to bring players of this calibre to the club whilst playing in the Championship, but if the Tigers were to gain promotion, then big-name signings like Fred and Muslera may not be out of reach.

It appears that Hull are in safe hands with Ilicali and the Turkish businessman has shown that he's a shrewd operator when it comes to transfer dealings.

Since Ilicali took over in January 2022, the club have improved both on and off the field, and he insists they are aiming for a return to the Premier League.

He said, "For the moment, I consider the team successful. It was ranked 21st when we bought it. Of course, we haven’t achieved the success we dreamed of, but this business is like climbing a ladder.

“It has been like that in my own career. I want to climb the stairs step by step in our England adventure. I can’t give a deadline because neither fast nor slow will make me happy. I want us to climb slowly."

Hull City's 2023/24 season

It's been a disappointing few weeks for the Tigers, and they look set to miss out on the play-offs under Liam Rosenior.

The club have slipped to ninth in the Championship table, and ahead of Easter Monday's fixtures, the club are six points off the play-off places with just eight games left.

Good Friday's 2-0 defeat at home to relegation-threatened Stoke City looked to be a fatal blow in Hull's play-off bid, and Ilicali will look to strengthen their squad again in the summer to have a crack at promotion next season.

The club finished 15th last term, so there's no denying it's been another season of growth for the Tigers, and next season you'd expect them to be in the mix for play-offs at the minimum.

It seems as if the club are in safe hands under Ilicali, and the Tigers' owner has plenty of ambition in the transfer market.