Hull City transfer window state of play: Ryan Allsop exit, Josh Windass truth and Jay Stansfield

The summer transfer window officially opened for business on Friday and for Hull City, the next two months will be absolutely crucial if they're to go close to emulating last season's seventh-placed finish or even better it.

When the players return to Cottingham for the first day of pre-season training two weeks on Monday (July 1), Tim Walter's squad will be significantly weaker than the one that boarded a flight back to Humberside Airport from Exeter after the final day defeat at Plymouth Argyle on May 4.

Gone are the influential loan players like Tyler Morton, Liam Delap and Fabio Carvalho as well as fringe players Greg Docherty, Cyrus Christie, Aaron Connolly and Billy Sharp leaving new boss Walter with a gaping hole which needs to be filled.

READ MORE: Seven players eyeing Hull City career recovery under Tim Walter

Walter will inherit a group not short on quality in key areas, but lacking depth throughout and up front, one that has absolutely no firepower when it comes to strikers. Sharp, Delap, Connolly and Noah Ohio have all gone leaving City with not one senior frontman.

Here's a look at what to expect over the next few weeks...

Setting the scene

This summer will see City needing to add eight to 10 new players to cover for the ones who have left since the end of the Championship campaign. Walter is a manager famed for his attacking intent, and that style is one of the key reasons Acun Ilicali brought him to the club, so he will need firepower.

The futures of Jacob Greaves and Jaden Philogene may well hold the key to any big business City do this summer and that won't come as much of a surprise. Should either depart for big money, then the club will have much more room for manoeuvre in the market.

What about targets?

City are keeping their cards very close to their chest just at this stage, as work behind the scenes goes on and gathers pace. Plenty of players are being linked with moves to the MKM Stadium, but the majority of them, Hull Live understands, are coming from agents pushing the names of their clients.

Two such examples are Bryan Reynolds and Josh Windass. Neither player is of any interest to City and hasn't been, but the pair are continually linked elsewhere. Reynolds was strongly linked last summer when he was at Roma and has again this close season, but Hull Live has been told there is no truth in those reports, and the same with Windass who now appears close to agreeing an extension to his contract at Sheffield Wednesday.

Bringing in a winger and striker are City's two top priorities. Jay Stansfield is a player City have cast an eye over after the 21-year-old netted 13 goals in a Birmingham City team that suffered relegation to League One, but it looks at this stage like Fulham want to keep him at Craven Cottage for the time being.

Stansfield is the type of profile City are looking at, similar in age to Liam Delap who came in last summer from Manchester City and made quite an impact, albeit not with the goal return his performances deserved. The England Under-21 star remains a top target this summer, but much will depend on his desire to test himself in the Premier League. Ideally, the Tigers would want to strike another season-long loan move for Delap, and that isn't out of the question at this stage.

The loan market is something the Tigers will have to use and use wisely. The club are not in a position to splash millions on transfer fees given the limits of Financial Fair Play, and how aggressive they were last term.

Working within the confines of FFP is a reality for all clubs now especially those like City, who don't have the benefit of Premier League parachute payment support, so they will need to wheel and deal carefully and use those relationships they've built up over time to their advantage.

Ryan Giles' future is another hot topic. City signed a loan deal in January to bring him from Luton Town and a clause within that deal means there's an obligation to buy for around £4m. That process is currently ongoing and it's expected the 24-year-old will complete a permanent move to the MKM Stadium now the window is open. The one to keep an eye on with Giles is his former loan club Middlesbrough. Michael Carrick is keeping tabs on that situation because they've had wind that the player would be more than open to a Teesside return, but will not consider doing business at £4m.

On the subject of loans

Last term, the Tigers used the short-term market brilliantly. Bringing in Scott Twine, Tyler Morton and Delap in the summer window was fine business, and though Twine didn't quite live up to the hype, few would argue at the outset that it wasn't a good move. Fabio Carvalho, Noah Ohio and Ryan Giles were January arrivals and all had in impact in their own right.

That's an area they'll look to use again. Meetings have been held with Liverpool and Man City - and others - about potential arrivals to mirror what happened with Delap, Morton and Carvalho.

Given the constraints City will be working within this summer, using the loan market to good effect is something they'll be looking at doing, though like with Morton, there will be an element of patience required.

It might be a case that they are forced to wait until late in the window, as the usual domino effect comes into play and it remains to be seen what impact, if any, Euro 2024 will have on the market both in the Premier League and Championship.

Can anyone from within help?

Naturally with a change in manager, players not involved under the previous boss will believe they have a chance of playing regularly. Brandon Fleming will fall into that category, so too will Dogukan Sinik if he can prove his fitness, and there is a discussion to be had over Oscar Estupinan, currently on loan in Brazil with FC Bahia.

Xavier Simons, Harry Vaughan, Jason Lokilo, Ryan Woods and Ryan Longman were all moved on by Rosenior with some of that group deemed not good enough for a promotion-chasing side. In truth, it would be a surprise if the likes of Lokilo, Woods and Longman were suddenly drafted in and given another opportunity.

Are outgoings inevitable?

As with any club in the Championship, especially one without the luxury of help from the Premier League, you're always at risk of losing your best players to the top flight and City are no different. We know there's interest in Greaves and Philogene, and those two have the biggest values.

In theory, City could earn close to £40m overnight for both those players, and while the pair would leave major, major holes in the squad, it would also present a big opportunity to reinvest, as long as it was done carefully and not splashed on a whim for quantity rather than quality.

City have made it clear that they don't want to lose either with Ilicali going on record to say he won't stand in somebody's way if they make it clear they want to leave. Neither Greaves nor Philogene have informed Ilicali of their desire to leave, both have ambitions of playing in the top flight, understandably.

James Furlong is attracting interest from Maribor while the likes of Ryan Longman and Ryan Woods are likely to want to secure permanent moves away, having enjoyed their respective loan spells at Millwall and Exeter City respectively, and both clubs keen to make those loan moves permanent.

Social media reports linking Ryan Allsop with lower-league moves are not true but its not unreasonable to expect the former Cardiff City goalkeeper will move on this summer, while there will be other exits as Walter looks to stamp his authority on the playing squad he will inherit.

What do you think City need this summer? Have your say in the comments below....