Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic opens up on collapse of Aston Villa deal and being written off
Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic opens up on collapse of Aston Villa deal and being written off
Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic has revealed he was told a deal had been struck to sign Louie Barry from Aston Villa just a day before the Tigers were hit with a transfer embargo.
The Tigers are 90 minutes away from the Premier League having booked a place in the Championship play-off final.
As they gear up to face Middlesbrough at Wembley this afternoon (May 23), Hull can reflect on a season in which they have overcome considerable adversity.
Jakirovic took the reins last summer and has had to work under the constraints of an embargo imposed upon the club shortly after his arrival.
Hull City’s embargo blow
In an interview with The Telegraph, the 49-year-old said: “We arrived here and the chairman told me on the plane, ‘We’ve bought Louie Barry.’ And I said, ‘Good! A young player, we can improve him’.
“The next day, bomb, embargo. What now? We can’t buy anybody. The chairman told me I’m guilty because I brought the embargo here from Turkey!”
Barry had spent the second half of the 2024/25 season on loan at the MKM Stadium from Aston Villa. When his proposed return to Hull fell through, he was loaned to Sheffield United. After seeing his Blades stint cut short, the 22-year-old winger was sent to Stockport County on a temporary basis.
Barry may well have boosted Hull’s attack but Jakirovic has done a stellar job without the former England youth international.
The Tigers boxed clever in the transfer market and an array of shrewd signings have helped them move to the brink of promotion. Jakirovic has also breathed life into the careers of players who had been written off elsewhere.
‘They wrote me off’
Jakirovic said: “They wrote me off. I like this. This was a challenge for me. Even these players, they have come from clubs who have written them off as not good enough.
“I had a very nice conversation with [Ryan] Giles. He had some loans, I don’t know why. I said, ‘Come on, this is your position, show me you are the right person for this position.’”