Hull City chief Acun Ilicali believes the work the club does in the transfer market this summer is absolutely pivotal to the future success of the Tigers.
City are preparing for their first season in the Premier League and know they must strengthen their squad significantly to be able to compete in the top-flight.
So far, only Jack Butland has arrived, with Ivor Pandur, Kyle Joseph and Akin Famewo all being sold, while last season's loanees have all returned to their parent clubs.
Midfielder Oscar Zambrano and winger Elliot Stroud are set to arrive before the Tigers head off to Slovenia on Monday for their pre-season training camp, and Ilicali hopes for at least two more in the next 10 days or so.
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While fans crave more new arrivals yesterday, Ilicali says the club must act sensibly, and not rush into doing the wrong deals for the sake of it, and land the club with players that are not good enough for the challenge ahead.
City have also been the victim of the Premier League tax, with clubs abroad believing the Tigers are flush with cash, in a similar way to the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea.
"Slow, but of course, but we're working in the correct way," he told Hull Live when asked for the latest update on transfer progress. "For the next three years, it's going to be the most crucial summer because the players we will bring to the club will determine our success for maybe the next two to three years.
"We will bring 12 or 13 players, and any wrong choices in these players can make us fail in the Premier League, plus any correct choices can take us to higher places plus they can double the budget.
"Now we're gonna play a bigger game, a much bigger game. Like, you will buy a player, let's say, for £10m, and it can go to £40m, or maybe £50m, so everything has to be right. We have no chance to make mistakes."
Hull Live revealed on Saturday that Zambrano and Stroud were expected to be arrivals two and three of the summer, and Ilicali confirmed those two deals were edging closer. The Tigers are also hoping to tie up an eye-catching deal for Olympiacos goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis, as reported on Tuesday evening.
"They are very close," he said of Zambrano and Stroud's imminent arrivals. "I cannot say that anything's 100%, but we are very, very close. We can say that we have now started our recruitment and expect two more in the near future.
"I cannot say about that [how soon], maybe, in 10 days is the most reasonable answer, I think. I don't know which date it will be, but in 10 days we're expecting a goalkeeper and maybe a centre-back, but of course, anything can change."
Ilicali confirmed that German forward Justin Njinmah was on the list of potential new recruits, before giving an insight into just how many names have been considered.
"Yes [there is interest]. He's also a winger and striker. He is one of the players in our list, but of course, we have many options, I would say.
"We have 20 options at the moment, but for example, I don't want to mention the name, one big club, we had a meeting, and they just asked us if we would be interested in some of their players.
"I want all of our fans to understand the situation. These are all critical moments that we have to think three times, four times, five times for the decision because these decisions will take this club somewhere that we don't know.
"I will never hurry in any of the signings just to be able to make it as soon as possible. Instead of that, I will lose three weeks, but get three times better players."
Boss Sergej Jakirovic has had his say on players that he would like to see arrive, including three from his homeland. Toni Fruk, Rokas Pukštas and Marco Pašalić are on that list, with Ilicali saying the club still has to proceed with caution.
"The coach wants players, of course, and he always tells us, 'Only if they are possible.' I've been with Sergej for more than a year now. I never see him putting stress on us about a player because he really knows the benefits of the club.
"When it comes to budgets, he always says, 'You decide' because, OK, Sergej wants to play and it's £40m, what will we do? Will we try to make Sergej happy, or will we just secure the future of the club? He knows that, and he's always with us.
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