Ilyas Ansah to Hull City
Tigers land Union Berlin's record sale

1. 1 Sept
   Move announced

   Union Berlin and Hull City both confirmed the permanent transfer of Ilyas Ansah had been completed.
2. 25 Aug
   Fee and terms agreed

   Reports said Hull and Union Berlin had a deal worth around €22m in place, with personal terms verbally agreed and only minor details outstanding.

Hull City have completed a club-record deal for Union Berlin forward Ilyas Ansah, paying an initial €17m for the 21-year-old on a five-year contract to 2031.

Hull City have signed forward Ilyas Ansah from Union Berlin in a deal confirmed by both clubs on 1 September 2026. The initial fee is around €17m, with the package capable of rising to about €21m through add-ons — Sky Germany has reported the total could eventually top €24m. The 21-year-old has signed a five-year contract at the MKM Stadium, running to June 2031. For Union Berlin it is the biggest sale in the club's history, overtaking the €20m Nottingham Forest paid for Taiwo Awoniyi in 2022.

Ansah is a big, athletic forward — listed at 6ft 4in — who can play as a central striker or off the left, and Hull have made him their 13th signing of the summer as they strengthen for a first Premier League campaign in nine years. He has described himself as "a very flexible player" who can "play almost anywhere up front," and his work rate without the ball and ability to drive at defenders in transition were the qualities that stood out to recruiters. Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic has spoken of wanting Ansah to become another important addition to a squad that has already beaten Manchester United in the club's first two games back in the top flight.

For Union Berlin, the sale is a striking financial win — they paid roughly €4m for Ansah when they signed him from SC Paderborn only a year ago, so this deal multiplies that outlay several times over. Managing director Horst Heldt said "the interest from England and Hull City's offer were very attractive both for the player and for us as a club," reflecting a Bundesliga side cashing in at the right moment. What Union lose is a young forward who had just broken into their first team and into Germany's underage set-up, and who they clearly believed had further to give.

Ansah's form last season was a season of two halves. He made an immediate impact on his Bundesliga debut in August 2025, scoring twice against Stuttgart, and finished his first top-flight campaign with 33 league appearances and 5 goals (37 games and 3 assists in all competitions). But his output dropped away significantly after the turn of the year — from matchday 15 onwards he was directly involved in only one more goal, and his shot conversion for the season sat at around 16%. That tail-off is a fair marker for what Hull are buying: a physically imposing, hard-running forward who has not yet shown he can finish consistently at the top level.

At Hull, he is expected to add pace, strength and directness to the attack, either leading the line or working from the left, with the raw tools to trouble Premier League defences in transition even if the finishing needs sharpening. Ansah has been open about the scale of the step up, saying it is "a dream come true" to play in the Premier League for what he called "such a big club," and adding that he is "a player who always gives his best and leaves it all on the pitch." He joins a Hull squad that has started the season well, and the club will be hoping his physical profile translates quickly against stronger, faster opposition than he faced in the Bundesliga.

• Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

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• Ansah vows to 'give his best and leave it all on the pitch'
• Ilyas Ansah