Hull City will be disappointed to find themselves back in the Championship this season after a valiant fight against relegation last year.

The Tigers have lost manager Marco Silva, without whom their battle against the drop would have been far less valiant, and replaced him with Leonid Slutsky, tasked with taking them back to the Premier League.

They may need a bit of a clear out of their squad as a number of high earners have been retained and perhaps that was one of the reasons why Curtis Davies was allowed to join Derby.

Davies was a prominent figure in Hull's promotion season in 2015/16 and even did fairly well in the Premier League, and will be difficult to replace this summer.

Indeed, a player they should be looking at is Middlesbrough defender Daniel Ayala, who is renowned for being a top, top defender at Championship level.

Ayala found it extremely hard to force his way into the Boro line-up in the Premier League and often operated behind the likes of Bernardo Espinosa, Ben Gibson and Callum Chambers in the pecking order.

This will have undoubtedly led to disillusionment on Ayala's part, and the chance to become a guaranteed first team player at another side likely to be pushing for the Premier League may be an enticing offer.

Hull are extremely low on centre-halves, not helped by Harry Maguire joined Leicester in a £17 million deal, but their transfer coffers will have been boosted by that deal.

Adding Premier League parachute payments to that and it puts Hull in a strong financial position, making Ayala an affordable option, especially considering he is rated at just £1.70m on Transfermarkt.

Ayala would undoubtedly prove to be a shrewd and strong signing in Hull's aim for the Premier League.

Hull fans... What do you make of this? Should you sign Ayala? Let us know in the comments below.