Hull City closing in on agreement for West Brom player on free transfer | OneFootball

Experienced defender Semi Ajayi is expected to sign for Hull City after leaving West Bromwich Albion at the end of the 2024/25 season.

Hull City are closing in on a deal to sign the experienced West Bromwich Albion defender Semi Ajayi, according to reports.

Ajayi's contract at The Hawthorns expired at the end of the 2024/25 season, and it was confirmed that he would be leaving the club at the end of June alongside Grady Diangana and John Swift in May.

This followed a season during which West Bromwich Albion finished in 9th place in the Championship, four points shy of a play-off place. It was also a tumultuous season behind the scenes at the club, with manager Carlos Corberan leaving on Christmas Eve to take up the vacant managerial position at Valencia.

Tony Mowbray was brought in to replace him, but he only lasted until April before being sacked himself, with James Morrison being put into the position on an interim basis until the end of the season. The former Spurs coach Ryan Mason was appointed to the position on a full-time basis at the start of June.

Semi Ajayi is set to sign a contract with Hull City

The Hull Daily Mail reports that Ajayi is "expected to be another arrival in the near future" for the Tigers, as they look to rebuild under new boss Sergej Jakirovic.

They report that the club and the player are close to agreeing personal terms for the 31-year-old, which would see him move to The MKM Stadium.

Nigeria international Ajayi, who has been capped 43 times for the Super Eagles, was somewhat out of favour at The Hawthorns last season, and will move on for a new challenge this year.

Should this move be confirmed, Ajayi will be moving to a club which is taking on a new head coach of their own.

Hull sacked Ruben Selles in the middle of May, but it wasn't until the middle of June that it was confirmed that Selles' replacement would be Jakirovic, who spent the second half of the 2024/25 season as the head coach of the Turkish Super Lig club Kayserispor.

Securing the signature of such an experienced defender as Semi Ajayi will be a big boost to Jakirovic as he starts to prepare his team, after Hull only narrowly avoided relegation to League One at the end of the 2024/25 season.

Ajayi signed for West Bromwich Albion from Rotherham United in July 2019 for a fee reported to be between £1.5 and £2 million.

Over the course of six years at The Hawthorns, he made 170 League appearances for them, including 33 in the Premier League during the 2020/21 season. He's also earned 43 caps for the Nigerian international team.

But the transfer isn't completely without risk to Hull, because the 2024/25 season was a difficult one for Ajayi. A hamstring injury picked up against Cardiff City in October led to surgery and four months out of the first team, only for a recurrence in only his second game back against Oxford leaving him out for the rest of the season.

If he can remain fit, Ajayi will be an excellent addition to the Hull City defence. The biggest question is how likely this is to happen, given his injury problems throughout so much of the 2024/25 season.