Bristol City boost as Hull City could be without three players for Championship opener

Hull City could be without three of their players in what would be a boost to opponents Bristol City ahead of their opening day fixture.

The Robins will make the 463.4 mile-round journey to Humberside on Saturday, July 30, to open their 2022/23 Championship campaign.

Nigel Pearson and his players will be in good spirits having completed a pre-season schedule without defeat, though they look set to be without Antoine Semenyo and Tomas Kalas for the opener, having not featured in any friendlies.

But transfer business has been done early and new signings have bedded in but for their opponents, their preparations haven’t exactly gone to plan.

Hull Live are reporting that Nathan Baxter, Alfie Jones and Ryan Longman could all miss the curtain raiser at the MKM Stadium.

All three players were absent in the 3-0 defeat to Peterborough United on Saturday and also didn’t feature in the loss to Leicester City last Wednesday. Goalkeeper Baxter was at London Road but had two fingers strapped which is a big blow.

The trio’s absence is in addition to Josh Emmanuel and James Scott are already set to miss the fixture as they step up their recovery from injuries.

The Tigers though have been busy in the transfer market and recently signed Benjamin Tetteh and Dogukan Sinik, both from the Turkish Super League, where most of their additions have come from.

Ozan Tufan and Iranian striker Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, both signed from Fenerbahce, are their other signings from Turkey with Hull being owned by Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali.

They also signed Tobias Figueiredo from Nottingham Forest, as well as Vaughn Covil From Forest Green Rovers. Jean Michael Seri also joined after the expiration of his contract with Fulham.

Colombian striker Óscar Estupiñán, signed from Vitoria de Guimaraes is their other bit of transfer business and he scored seven goals in 28 games for Denizlispor last season.

All the new additions that have been made have seen the club’s ambitions turn to reaching the play-offs.

Vice-chairman Tan Kesler said that Hull should aim to secure a place in the end of season play-offs at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

Kesler said to The Athletic: “We don’t have the magic touch but we’re doing everything in our power to get to the play-offs.

“If we didn’t get there it would disappoint us, but it wouldn’t discourage us. “It would just make us more motivated to come back.”