Marco Silva desperate for new Hull City signings ahead of Manchester United showdown

Hull City manager Marco Silva is hopeful the club can make their first January signings this week with his squad threadbare for Tuesday's (10 January) encounter with Manchester United.

Silva guided Hull to a much-needed win on Saturday as the Tigers saw off Swansea City in their FA Cup third round clash but now faces a daunting trip to Old Trafford for the first-leg of their EFL Cup semi-final clash.

The Tigers boss could be without three centre-halves in Curtis Davies, Michael Dawson and Harry Maguire with Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone finishing Saturday's match at centre-half. Moses Odubajo remains sidelined with a serious knee injury while Ahmed Elmohamady is on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Abel Hernandez returned to action against Swansea after two months out to give Silva an additional option upfront. But with Will Keane sidelined with a long-term injury and Dieudonné Mbokani also at Afcon, the club are in need of further firepower.

According to Sky Sports, the club are poised to complete a loan deal for Everton outcast Oumar Niasse. While Silva would not confirm talks for the 26-year-old, he hopes to have new players at his disposal as soon as possible.

"We will see, I will only talk about new players, the transfers, only when these players sign for the club," Silva told a press conference, Sky Sports report. "If it is true or not it is impossible for me to say for you. Of course we are interested in a lot of players and we will see what is possible. But at this moment, I do not want to talk about the players of the other teams."

When asked about arrivals this week, he added: "I hope. We will have to see but I hope because we need to. I worked the last two training session with 13-15 players and we will see how many I have today. Sure We need to do something fast because if you need to be more competitive against the others and improve, we must do something fast. Really fast."

Robert Snodgrass, the club's top goalscorer with nine goals this season, was last week the subject of an audacious £3m offer from West Ham United. Silva insists however the club's sole focus during the transfer window will be adding to their squad, not reducing it.

"In this moment, I only think to improve my team. I don't want to lose our important players. I hope he continues with us because he is an important player for us."