Hull City have signed Greece goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis from Olympiacos on a five-year contract for a fee thought to be around £20m plus add-ons, smashing the club's previous transfer record BBC Sport.

The 23-year-old arrives as newly promoted Hull prepare for their return to the Premier League. The fee, while not confirmed by either club, would comfortably exceed the £13m the Tigers paid Tottenham for midfielder Ryan Mason a decade ago — until now the high-water mark of Hull's spending BBC Sport.

Hull's owner, Acun Ilicali, had signalled the deal was done on 30 July, telling fans a move for the Olympiacos goalkeeper was complete BBC Sport. Six days later, the paperwork followed.

Tzolakis spent his entire senior career at Olympiacos, the Greek champions based in Piraeus. He made 131 appearances after debuting in 2020 and collected eight trophies along the way: four Greek Super League titles and, most notably, the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League — the continent's third-tier club competition, which Olympiacos won by beating Fiorentina in the final BBC Sport.

On the international stage, Tzolakis made his Greece debut against Malta and has earned nine caps BBC Sport.

What makes this stand out is the scale of the commitment from both sides. Hull have handed a five-year deal to a goalkeeper who has won European silverware, which is not the typical profile of a signing for a club scrapping to stay in the top flight. For Tzolakis, the move trades the certainty of Olympiacos — a club where he had been the undisputed number one — for the altogether rougher challenge of a Premier League survival fight.

For Hull fans, the message is unambiguous. After winning promotion back to the Premier League for the 2025-26 season, the club are backing their return with serious money. Whether Tzolakis can translate his pedigree into the points Hull will need is the question that opens the moment the season does.