Hull City: January exit serves as transfer warning for Ruben Selles, Acun Ilicali | OneFootball

Marvin Mehlem's impact in East Yorkshire has been minimal since his summer arrival

Hull City are facing what many are dubbing as the most pivotal transfer window of Acun Ilicali's time as owner of the club, with the East Yorkshire outfit in a perilous position.

Despite a relative upturn in fortunes under Ruben Selles, which has seen City pick up credible victories against Swansea City and Blackburn Rovers across the Spaniard's first six games in charge, there is no sugarcoating the fact that the side are in the thick of a relegation dogfight.

There are several factors as to why the opening 24 games of the Championship campaign have panned out in such a disastrous fashion for the previously play-off chasing outfit and recruitment is one of those.

Last summer wasn't the first time we've seen such a mass amount of player turnover at the MKM, and it has been evident that the current crop of players at Selles' disposal is incomparable to the level of the squad assembled by Liam Rosenior at the conclusion of the previous January window.

And as the Spaniard heads into his first in East Yorkshire, he and Ilicali have been served a warning when it comes to their approach by recent developments surrounding Marvin Mehlem.

Marvin Mehlem, Paderborn developments give transfer warning to Hull City chiefs

Mehlem was one of 17 incomings that replaced 19 departures across Tim Walter's solitary window in charge of the Tigers, with the attack-minded midfielder joining from SV Darmstadt for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract.

Despite one injury-hit season in the Bundesliga with the relegated side, there was hope that the 27-year-old could fill the void left by Ozan Tufan, who departed for Trabzonspor in the summer after registering 20 goal contributions in 84 appearances for City.

However, that has proven to be far from the case for Mehlem, who featured in the first 10 league games of the season, which included two assists in a 4-1 rout over fellow strugglers Cardiff City, on top of netting his first, and so far, only goal for the club in a drab 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup with a well-taken side-footed finish.

Mehlem would then watch City's plight down the table from the sidelines, as a calf injury kept him sidelined until Walter's final game in charge against the Owls, which started a run of five successive appearances from the bench that also yielded the most bizarre assist for Chris Bedia against Watford, with the last of those coming in the 2-1 victory over Swansea on December 21st.

Although there had been no hints of a potential departure for the summer arrival, it was then confirmed by Selles after the 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough that he "gave permission" for the playmaker to speak to a German club.

It has since been revealed that said club is SC Paderborn, who find themselves in sixth position in the 2.Bundesliga.

Despite suffering the misfortune of injury so early into his spell with the Tigers, the truth of the matter is that Mehlem, like others who replaced several key outgoings such as Tufan, Liam Delap, Jean Michael Seri, Jaden Philogene, Jacob Greaves et al. in the summer, haven't hit anywhere near the same performance and quality levels.

Given Hull's current predicament, it is no surprise that Ilicali has publicly stated he will back Selles to make the required changes to his 25-man squad, which will also be influenced by the season-ending injuries to Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi prior to his arrival, Oscar Zambrano's suspension and other departures on top of Mehlem's temporary exit.

It's clear that Hull are in need of experience in an array of positions, and in a month notoriously difficult for doing business, the Tigers have to be savvy in their approach, rather than emulating the scattergun windows of the past that have included mishaps such as the £4m fee coughed up to acquire Dogukan Sinik from Antalyaspor in 2022, with the Turkish winger playing 22 minutes of competitive action for the club since December 2022.

Given the lack of days to complete deals, it's extremely unlikely that changes to such an extent will occur in HU3, as Hull are still adjusting to the Spaniard's methods after two-and-a-half months under his predecessor where cohesion was an aspect distinctly lacking over the course of several encounters.

It was suggested towards the end of December that as many as six new faces could join Selles' squad and Mehlem isn't on his own when it comes to potential departures, with the recently injured yet reinvigorated Ryan Longman linked with a move to Hearts.

The supporters will certainly hope the bulk of those deals will be completed as early as possible, with City still having at least five further matches to play out over what could be a season-defining month when it comes to the club's short-term aim of escaping the drop, which will continue in a Yorkshire Derby with table-topping Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.