Sergej Jakirovic hails Sunderland blueprint for Hull’s Premier League build | OneFootball

The Premier League’s newest manager, Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic, says Sunderland’s recent recruitment is his template as he readies Hull for the top flight.

“Sunderland are my guiding principle; the club have done an excellent job of identifying, so to speak, cheaper but very good players, mainly in Belgium and France,” he told Sportske Novosti.

Just under 12 months after a Championship play-off final win against Sheffield United, Sunderland embarked on an ambitious summer that underpinned a standout season. Club-record deals for Enzo Le Fee and Habib Diarra were followed by Robin Roefs, Brian Brobbey, winger Chemsdine Talbi and captain Granit Xhaka. Under Regis Le Bris, they secured a place in next season’s Europa League.

Hull returned to the top flight last month after an absence of 10 years with a 1-0 play-off final win over Middlesbrough and now aim to strengthen. The Tigers and Sunderland are reportedly competing for Charleroi midfielder Yacine Titraoui, with Marseille also said to be interested.

“If we were to get 120m for reinforcements, that’s a dream. I don’t believe we’ll have that much money available, but we’ll see. Basically, there are no more bans, we can pay transfer fees. We have a very good sporting director, Jared Dublin, who was a scout before and knows players inside out.”

Source: Sunderland Echo