Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has revealed his admiration for Sunderland's transfer business over the last 12 months.

The Premier League’s newest manager has claimed he is using Sunderland’s impressive recruitment record as a ‘guiding principle’ as he prepares his squad for life in the top flight.

Just under 12 months have passed since the Black Cats secured promotion with a Championship play-off final win against Sheffield United before embarking on an ambitious summer transfer window that laid the foundations for one of the most memorable seasons in the club’s recent history. Club record deals for Enzo Le Fee and Habib Diarra set the tone for an exciting summer before shrewd additions such as Dutch duo Robin Roefs and Brian Brobbey, exciting winger Chemsdine Talbi and captain Granit Xhaka helped Regis Le Bris’ side write their name into Black Cats history by securing a place in next season’s Europa League.

Hull City followed in Sunderland’s footsteps last month when they claimed a 1-0 win against Middlesbrough in this season’s Championship play-off final and they will now enter this summer’s transfer window looking to boost their squad ahead of the new campaign. The two clubs are reportedly going head-to-head over the potential signing of Charleroi midfielder Yacine Titraoui - although Ligue 1 giants Marseille are also believed to be keen on a deal for the Algeria international.

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After guiding Hull back into the Premier League after an absence of ten years, Sergej Jakirovic believes Sunderland have ‘done an excellent job’ of finding value-for-money in the transfer market over the last 12 months and is keen to see his club follow a similar path during the summer transfer window.

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The Tigers boss told Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti: “Sunderland are my guiding principle; the club have done an excellent job of identifying, so to speak, cheaper but very good players, mainly in Belgium and France. If we were to get 120m for reinforcements, that’s a dream. I don’t believe we’ll have that much money available, but we’ll see. Basically, there are no more bans, we can pay transfer fees. We have a very good sporting director, Jared Dublin, who was a scout before and knows players inside out.”

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