Sergej Jakirovic has warned some of his Hull City players they risk being unable to play first-team football again in 2026 if they do not find a new club by Tuesday.

Hull have made 12 new signings in this transfer window and are still looking to add centre-forward Ilya Ansah, a left winger and perhaps even a central midfielder – although top target Toby Collyer looks bound to return to West Bromwich Albion – before next week's transfer deadline.

Premier League clubs, like their Football League counterparts, can only register 25 senior players between windows.

The Tigers were forced to de-register David Akintola in last season's Championship and the same fate could easily befall the likes of Akintola, Kieran Dowell, Abdulkadir Omur and Cody Drameh.

RIVAL INTEREST: Hull City left-back Ryan Giles (Image: Tony Johnson)

placeholder image — RIVAL INTEREST: Hull City left-back Ryan Giles (Image: Tony Johnson)

It is why Ryan Giles joining Burnley despite his important role in the opening-day Premier League win over Manchester United cannot be discounted, and Oscar Zambrano is expected to be loaned out weeks after rejoining the club on a permanent basis.

“We must make room for all these new arrivals because unfortunately it's a list of 25,” said coach Jakirovic, whose side are at Coventry City in the Premier League on Saturday.

“We have (new centre-back Lucas) Harrington born in 2007, we have Jens Hjerto-Dahl 2005, they are not on this list, but we must find space.

“This is unfortunately bad news for these players.

FUTURE TO CONSIDER: Cody Drameh (Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

“For me it's a disaster if you stay here and you are not registered. What will you do here?

“You will not play football for 100 years so you have to find a better solution. Maybe we should do this earlier but we don't have (all the new) players. But this is my job and also club decisions. We have to respect this.”

Coventry won last season's Championship, with Hull sixth, but the Tigers were the only team to stop Frank Lampard's side scoring, in two 0-0 draws.

Despite all the personnel changes, Jakirovic feels that will be significant on Saturday.

“It's important, of course it's important because we didn't concede a goal, which is excellent news for us,” he said. “We struggled (defensively all Championship season, we conceded 66.

“Now we look more stable there and we know what we are doing. That's a good sign for us.”

Hull's League Cup third-round tie at Sunderland will kick off at 7.45pm on September 8.

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