Hull City have made a triple swoop for left-back Matt Targett (£4.0m), plus central midfielders Hidemasa Morita (£5.0m) and Oscar Zambrano (£4.5m), arriving from Newcastle United, Sporting CP and Maribor.
The first two are free transfers, while former loanee Zambrano rejoins for an undisclosed fee.
BRIEF HISTORY
30-year-old Targett actually played against the Tigers in May’s Championship playoff final. It was the culmination of 46 appearances, four goals and four assists at Middlesbrough.
Although he’s played 164 Premier League games for Southampton, Aston Villa and Newcastle, no top-flight starts have come since September 2023, hence the Teesside loan spell.
During four years in Lisbon, Morita was a key part of two title-winning campaigns, accumulating 112 Primeira Liga outings, 11 goals and 14 assists. The 31-year-old can be considered a bit of a coup.
Six strikes took place in 2022/23 – the same number across all 40 Japan caps.
MORITA AT SPORTING
| SEASON | CLUB | LEAGUE | STARTS (SUB) | GOALS | ASSISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Sporting CP | Primeira Liga | 23 (8) | 1 | 4 |
| 2024/25 | Sporting CP | Primeira Liga | 13 (10) | 2 | 3 |
| 2023/24 | Sporting CP | Primeira Liga | 24 (5) | 2 | 4 |
| 2022/23 | Sporting CP | Primeira Liga | 21 (8) | 6 | 3 |
Meanwhile, young Ecuadorian Zambrano is uncapped at senior level. He was briefly at Hull two seasons ago, but a 16-month doping ban swiftly ended proceedings. By the time this was reduced to 12 months, he’d moved to Slovenia, scoring twice in seven Maribor matches.
FPL OUTLOOK
In truth, these three begin with very little Fantasy Premier League (FPL) appeal. Hull are predicted by many to finish last, and our Fixture Ticker doesn’t detect much joy in their early run. Maybe just possibly Gameweek 2.
Targett will compete with Ryan Giles (£4.0m) for starts, and likely be back-up to start with.
Does Morita have a chance of regular defensive contribution (DefCon) points? Last season’s 31 league matches averaged only 59 minutes, but his DefCon data came at a rate of 11.13 per 90 minutes… and that’s for a second-placed team. He could often reach the 12-action threshold in Humberside.
There’s too much competition in the engine room for Hull at present, however, to consider either of their new central midfielders. Manager Sergej Jakirović may further complicate things by signing others.
