Premier League club must sell players after 'overspending' or face sanctions

Premier League club Hull City must sell players before a strict deadline of July 1 to avoid possible penalties, owner Acun Ilicali has revealed.

The Tigers earned promotion to the English top flight by beating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

Hull were placed under a fee-paying transfer embargo last summer and had to rely on free transfers and loans.

But under manager Sergej Jakirovic, they confounded pre-season predictions to finish in sixth place in the Championship, with top scorer Oli McBurnie smashing in 18 goals.

The 30-year-old Scot also scored a 95th-minute winner in the play-off final to earn Hull promotion.

But before they can focus on incomings ahead of their return to the Premier League, the Tigers must first sell assets.

'We have overspent' - Hull City owner releases statement

It was reported on Tuesday morning that Hull needed to raise a figure believed to be in the region of £6 million through player sales to avoid a potential breach of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

While the Tigers will earn significant amounts of revenue through playing in the Premier League, FFP is calculated over a three-year reporting period that does not take those sums into account.

Although £6 million may seem like a relatively small figure for most Premier League clubs, Hull were playing in League One as recently as the 2020/21 season and, as mentioned, were not able to spend fees to bring new players in last summer, meaning their squad is relatively smaller than other clubs.

Speaking on Tuesday, Tigers owner Ilicali confirmed (via Yorkshire Post) that the club had 'overspent' and now need to sell assets - but is confident that they can raise the funds without allowing key players to leave.

Acun Ilicali lifts the Championship play-off final trophy at Wembley (Image: Getty)

"We have overspent, and we have to sell some players by July 1," he said. "I don't say that it will be very easy or very hard.

"Now we are a Premier League team, the values [of players] has raised up, which is a good advantage. We have some players that know they will not be able to play with us.

"Now we will work on that and solve this problem. It's a new task, and we will manage it. I'm not afraid. We have managed harder things. For us, this is more manageable."

Fellow Premier League clubs Everton and Nottingham Forest have both received points deductions - six and four respectively - for breaches of the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability (PSR) Rules.