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Hull City were expected to do some business throughout the summer ahead of the next Championship season to move them away from the relegation zone.
Ahead of the 2025/26 Championship season, Hull City were handed the disastrous news that they had been slapped with a three-window transfer embargo.
They can still sign free agents or loanees for the upcoming season, though, which means they need to be looking for clever deals.
Sergej Jakirovic could take inspiration from the example set by Phil Brown following the promotion of Hull City to the Premier League, having to work with limited resources to prepare the squad for the challenge.
One of Brown’s signings, who had a fantastic Premier League season, was brought in for free.
Phil Brown says how he was able to sign Geovanni from Manchester City
Geovanni joined Manchester City from Cruzeiro in the summer of 2007, having also been on trial for Portsmouth, under the ownership of Thaksin Shinawatra.
The future of Manchester City was up in the air despite the initial investment by the former Prime Minister of Thailand, but then there were financial worries in the summer of 2008, seeing a number of players leave for a cut price before Sheikh Mansour bought the club in August.
Phil Brown took advantage of this, as Hull City signed Geovanni in July, and the former manager spoke with World Football Index.
Brown said: “It actually started with a meeting to sign Tony Warner, a third-choice goalkeeper at City. At the end, the agent said, ‘Anyone else you’re interested in?’ I said we had wages but no transfer fees. He said, ‘What about Geovanni?’
“Brian Horton nearly fell off his chair. I asked about Geovanni’s temperament, and Brian said, “He’s a sunshine player – you’ll need to wrap him up in winter – but massively talented.”
“Turns out it was £250k in agent commission – no transfer fee. I called Paul Duffen and said, ‘Get it done.’ Geovanni was a game-changer. We picked up 20 points from our first nine games. That’s 2.2 points per game – a record for a newly promoted side, I believe.”
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Geovanni’s career at Hull City
The former Brazilian international spent two seasons at Hull City, both being spent in the Premier League.
Geovanni agreed to cancel his contract after the club were relegated to the Championship.
He was a key reason they narrowly survived in the first campaign, as he scored eight goals in 37 fixtures; however, his second season was not as impressive, as he only managed five goals in the second across 28 matches.
Geovanni is one of the standout players from Hull City during this period under Phil Brown, as his brilliance sometimes settled games for the Tigers, giving fans a few memorable moments between 2008 and 2010.