Ruben Selles says the club remain hopeful of adding two new players in the coming days but admits they have run out of time to get the deals in place before Saturday’s Yorkshire derby at home to Leeds United.
City had been working hard behind the scenes to make at least one new arrival before the clash with the table-topping Whites, but despite their best efforts, that has not been possible.
A winger and striker are close to agreeing on moves to the MKM Stadium and it’s hoped they will be concluded in the next few days and in advance of next weekend’s FA Cup tie with League Two Doncaster Rovers. City are not due to play another Championship game until January 18 away at Millwall.
The Tigers had hoped to snap up Lewis Gibson from Plymouth, only for the Durham-born central defender to opt to make the move to Preston North End, so the Tigers have moved on to other potential targets at the back.
Marvin Mehlem’s loan departure to German Bundesliga.2 side Paderborn has freed up valuable space in Selles’ squad, and that deal could be made permanent in the summer owing to the terms of that agreement.
“Well, we are working on it,” Selles told Hull Live. “We have a couple of them, but they should be close enough to support us in the short term, not for tomorrow (Saturday). I think we are getting there where we can have after the Leeds game in two, three or four days max, some players coming in.”
While the FA Cup clash with Grant McCann’s Rovers is obviously important, not having a league encounter for a couple of weeks does give the Tigers a little extra time to bring players and get them settled in before the trip to The Den later this month, something Selles is acutely aware of.
“When you have the time to prepare things and be able to reflect and be able to work with the team on the training ground, it’s better, and we will need to take advantage of that period,” he said.
On facing the Whites, Selles says it will naturally be a testing encounter, but wants to see his side face the task head on.
“You can be at the top of the league by doing certain different things,” he said of Leeds’ season. “I think it’s a side that has been really good in possession, really aggressive in his (Daniel Farke) approach, attacking with a lot of players in rotation, attacking the spaces, arriving into the box with a good amount of players with very clear movements, even though sometimes it looks like it’s a little bit chaotic and the intensity has made the difference for them. We can expect an intense game on their side and I think a team that’s going to try to attack as much as possible.”
Few outside the dressing room will believe the league’s lowest scorers can upset the form guide, but victory could be transformative for the Tigers’ season. And Selles says his approach will be to try and win the game and return to winning ways after that last-gasp loss to Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day.
He said: “As I said on my first day, we are going to compete and try to win every single game, and that’s exactly what we are going to do tomorrow; it doesn’t matter which team is in front of us. We have one of the best teams in the league in front of us, but we want to be able to play with resolve, continue growing and continue competing.
“Sometimes, we’ll have days where we will get the results, sometimes not, but we need to show that we can be competitive, and I think tomorrow is a good game just to show our competitiveness. We’re going to give our one hundred per cent to do it (try and win), yes, and hopefully, at the end of the game, we are in a good position, and then we can talk about it (what a win could do for the club).”
City have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the clash with the West Yorkshire outfit, with Ryan Longman (groin), Liam Millar (ACL), Mohamed Belloumi (ACL), Kasey Palmer (ankle), Carl Rushworth (ankle), Charlie Hughes (hamstring) and Oscar Zambrano (suspended) all unavailable.