Opinion: Ozan Tufan’s Watford spell should be a concern for Hull City, but there are reasons to be optimistic

By all accounts, Hull City are in advanced talks to sign Turkish midfielder Ozan Tufan this summer.

However, the Tigers should be extremely wary of this transfer dealing given the 27-year-old’s track record of late.

Take the 2021/22 season, for example. Tufan joined newly promoted Premier League side Watford ahead of their return to the top-flight, and there was optimism over his arrival at the time.

However, things did not work out at all for Tufan in Hertfordshire, appearing just nine times for the club, only one of which was a full 90 minutes.

The Turkish midfielder’s loan deal was terminated early and as far as Watford were concerned, it was good riddance.

For whatever reason, the 27-year-old did not look prepared for the intensity of the Premier League, and the Hornets must have been relieved that their relegation meant that their option to purchase Tufan at the end of the season did not become an obligation.

However, his lack of ability to adapt to life in the Premier League can potentially be attributed to the pre-season that he endured last summer, as outlined by The Athletic.

With Turkey being a ‘red-listed country’ at the time of Tufan’s signing, the 27-year-old was sent to Udinese and assigned a personal trainer to put him through a ‘mini pre-season’.

As such, when Tufan arrived at Watford on the 8th September, the only sort of pre-season he had was training alone with a personal trainer, meanwhile, the Hornets were about to play their fourth game of the Premier League season, never mind pre-season.

Despite how things went at Watford, Tufan’s performances in the Turkish Super Lig for Fenerbahce should be greatly encouraging for Hull City fans.

In the 2019/20 season, for example, the 27-year-old scored six