Replacing Mike Phelan as manager of Hull, Marco Silva brought in a lot of changes over the course of January, signing no fewer than eight players to help avoid relegation.
One of the areas where Portuguese manager was keen to bolster was in defence, and after a lot of approaches to players throughout Europe, Inter Milan’s Andrea Ranocchia was brought in on loan.
Thursday’s comes from Denmark, with FC Copenhagen’s Mathias Jørgensen, commonly known as Zanka, the intended target.
According to Ekstrabladet, Hull made a bid of £5.7m for the 26-year-old defender, which would have made him the second most expensive sale from the Danish Super League after Daniel Agger had it been accepted.
Speaking to the newspaper, the player explained why it never went through: “There were a lot of discussions. When something comes from the Premier League, it’s always interesting, but I didn’t think or care much about it because I knew what the outcome would be.”
Zanka explained he knew the club wouldn’t sell him, mostly because they had already lost one of their key players in Thomas Delaney in the transfer window, but also due to the fact they wouldn’t have time to bring in a replacement.
That doesn’t mean a move to the Premier League isn’t on the cards for the centre-back in the future, it’s just that January wasn’t the right timing for him, with a summer move far more likely.
At least Marco Silva knows he can return for Zanka if he so wishes.
