“Would be a huge statement of intent” – Hull City planning transfer raid for Fulham player: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Hull City are eyeing up a move for soon-to-be free agent Jean Michael Seri, per a report from Football Insider.

The 30-year-old midfielder, who has amassed 40 caps for the Ivory Coast, has been told by Championship title winners Fulham that his contract option will not be triggered to keep him at the Cottagers for another year, nor will the club be offering him fresh terms.

It means that Seri will be free to explore his options going into the summer – and one of them will be the Tigers.

Hull owner Acun Ilicali is reported to have given his approval to make an ambitious approach for Seri, but would he be a good signing for the club? We asked the FLW team for their thoughts…

Quiz: The big Hull City striker quiz – Score over 80% and you can call yourself a true Tigers fan

1 of 25

How many appearances did Josh Magennis make for Hull during his time at the club?

95 112 120 82

Josh Cole

This would be a superb bit of business by Hull as Seri illustrated last season that he is more than capable of delivering the goods in the Championship.

In the 33 games that he featured in, the 30-year-old managed to provide seven direct goal contributions from his midfield role.

Seri also completed 89.4% of the passes that he attempted and made 1.4 tackles per game as he recorded an average WhoScored match rating of 6.93.

By signing Seri and keeping some of their key players at the club this summer, Hull could push forward as a team next season under the guidance of Shota Arveladze.

Marcus Ally

On a free transfer, this would be a disgustingly good signing for Hull City.

The Tigers completed some impressive deals in the January transfer window, not all of them hit the ground running but the ambition was clear from the top of the club.

Seri has been one of the best performing midfielders in the division this season, and so he should be given his background, and the 30-year-old has the ability to revolutionise the way Hull play under Shota Arveladze.

If ever there was an outstanding Richie Smallwood replacement, it is Jean-Michael Seri and the Ivorian will have offers to play in more glamorous divisions than the Championship next season.

If Hull pull this one off, it would be a huge statement of intent that they are going places under Acun Ilicali’s ownership.

Declan Harte

Seri has not quite lived up to expectations at Craven Cottage having arrived in a big money deal in 2018.

The midfielder left Fulham in underwhelming circumstances, but did have some bright moments in his final season with the club to help the Cottagers earn promotion.

This would certainly be a statement signing from the Tigers if they pulled this move off.

Despite a poor few years, Seri would still likely command a high signing-on fee and big wages.

But he would be an upgrade on other options in the team and could be a very solid addition to the side as they look to climb the Championship table.