Hull City urged to "aim higher" as Tigers battle QPR and Blackburn Rovers for attacker | OneFootball

Yates scored 10 Championship goals for Derby County this season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

After being allowed to spend the entire season on loan at fellow Championship side Derby County, Jerry Yates' future at Swansea City is up in the air this summer.

After netting 10 league goals for the Rams this term, a whole host of clubs in the second tier have been linked with the former Blackpool striker, including Hull City, Blackburn and QPR as per Football Insider, who will be looking to add to their attack this summer after scoring just 44 all season, the lowest in the Championship.

Joao Pedro's six goals were the most scored by one player this season for the Tigers, so adding someone who netted four more for another side who narrowly escaped relegation this season, and someone who has previously scored 14 in a single second-tier season whilst at the Tangerines, would be seen as a good bit of business on the surface.

However, with the ambition which Hull City have shown in the previous few transfer windows, Tigers FLW fan pundit, Ryan Frankish, feels they can aim higher than Yates.

Dilemma faced around Jerry Yates, Hull City links

Ryan admitted to Football League World that Jerry Yates would ultimately be an upgrade to the current crop of strikers at the MKM Stadium.

"I think he'd get double digits for us in our team, which is definitely an improvement, and he had a great season in Blackpool's League One promotion season," he said.

Yates hit 20 goals in League One in Blackpool's play-off winning 2020/21 campaign, the third most in the league, which included goals in each of the games against Hull.

Despite this, and despite scoring a goal just under every five games in his 197 Championship appearances, Ryan feels his side can be slightly more ambitious.

"Part of me is sat on the fence. We need to be thankful we've stayed in the division, and we can target strikers who were better than what we had last season and hopefully develop them.

"But then the other side is telling me that we're a team that should be aiming for the play-offs with some sort of money, a decent following and alright backing.

"We have all the foundations to be attractive to good players, so should we be aiming higher for a more prolific striker when we could probably bring one in?" he questioned.

Jerry Yates could be a good addition to Hull City

In a season where not many Championship strikers have been incredible, Jerry Yates has stood out in almost every category that matters for a frontman.

According to FotMob, Yates ranked in the top 10% of strikers for non-penalty xG, and fouls won, as well as the top 15% in touches, successful passes and assists.

Clearly, there's more to Yates' game than goals, and he ranks among the best in his position when it comes to defensive stats, too, positioning in the top 4% of strikers in possession won in the final third this season.

But that's not to say that Yates lacks that scoring ability either, shown from his time at Blackpool, which earned him the move to Swansea in 2023.

Wherever Yates ends up next season, at Hull or elsewhere, if they can get that goalscoring record back to where it could be, whilst also maintaining his intensity off the ball and chance creation, he'll be a handful for Championship defenders.