Hull City have avoided a potential points deduction in the Premier League after completing the sales of goalkeeper Ivor Pandur and midfielder Aidon Shehu just hours before a critical accounting deadline.

The Tigers sealed promotion to the top flight by defeating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Championship play-off final in May, a result that brought with it guaranteed revenue of approximately £200 million. However, that windfall could not arrive quickly enough to prevent a profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) crisis.

What the PSR rules required

EFL PSR rules cap Championship clubs' losses at £39 million over a rolling three-year period. Hull carried an overspend of around £6 million through to the 2025-26 accounting period, which closed on 30 June. Had they failed to close that gap, the club faced a deduction of up to six points in the Premier League — a potentially damaging start to their top-flight return.

Only profit generated on player transfers counts toward the PSR calculation, meaning Hull needed to move players at a meaningful profit before the deadline passed.

The deals that saved Hull

On Tuesday evening, Hull announced the sale of first-choice goalkeeper Pandur to Rangers for £6 million. The 26-year-old had joined the club from Fortuna Sittard in January 2024 for £1.5 million and earned three of the club's player of the year awards during the 2024-25 season.

The following morning, Hull confirmed that 19-year-old Shehu had been sold to Panathinaikos for a reported £2.5 million. Shehu, an Albania Under-21 international, was signed from Southend United two years ago for a small compensation fee. He never made a senior appearance for Hull and spent the closing weeks of last season on loan at Scarborough Athletic. Because his original fee was negligible, the sale represents near-pure profit for PSR purposes.

Together, the two transfers contribute roughly £7 million in profit to Hull's books — enough to erase the deficit.

A move for Kyle Joseph fell through

Hull had anticipated selling forward Kyle Joseph to Middlesbrough for £5 million to resolve the shortfall, but a dispute between the clubs prevented the deal from being finalised in time. The Pandur and Shehu sales ultimately provided the solution.

What comes next for Hull

The PSR uncertainty had frozen Hull's transfer activity entirely, preventing any new signings ahead of the upcoming season. From Wednesday, with the new accounting period under way, the club can begin rebuilding their squad in earnest.

PSR itself is set to be phased out and replaced by the squad cost ratio (SCR) system, which assesses spending annually rather than over three years. Under SCR, clubs are permitted to allocate up to 85 percent of the revenue they generate toward squad costs — a structure designed to give promoted sides more flexibility as their income scales up.