Saint Matty 76

To be fair he's completely nailed it? There wasn't a single mention of this.

There we go! Lesley Ugochukwu from Chelsea.

Harry Reed probably be my guess then. Decent back-up but not sure I'll be delighted if it's one of our loan spots used up, when we still need the three starters.

Second post... first was right... THEVMAN returned with his mate?

Szmodics agrees a deal at Ipswich. Intrigued to see the fee, but can't really argue with their strategy of best of the Championship signings.

Think this is very harsh personally. He was really impressive at the end of the PL season in a new country at 19, and now simply doesn't fit in the new managers system. That does not make him a bad player. I think we should cash in if the £20m rumour is true, purely due to the fact that he isn't part of RM's plans and we could sign somebody who is (i.e. O'Riley) with the money which would make us better. I wouldn't be surprised to see Alcaraz go on to be a very good player though, due to what he showed in that short spell in a woeful football team.

Our good friend Sacha Tavolieri has said that an agreement with a Prem club is imminent. His underlying numbers are absolutely ridiculous, never heard of him mind. RM just saying in the presser we've done nowhere near as much as we'd have liked, to nobodies surprise.

Broja linked to Ipswich now.

Not that I don’t think it’s going to be Atalanta, but that’s them out the O’Riley run. I wonder if we could somehow get Evan Ferguson on loan with all the attacking options they have now? Optimistic maybe, and even then there’s plenty of questions about his fitness. I like the look of him for this system however, very good with the ball.

It seems like he wants a full pay-off for the final year of his deal. I don't blame him I guess? But the priority to get that done rather than being here for preseason/the opening games has pushed me from wanting him back as a squad player to not being remotely fussed.

Interesting that we were expecting "one or two" before the opening game but Fraser is nowhere near and currently out of the running for O'Riley. Other options close or just bollocks as per?

Interested by the DM link as I've definitely maintained we need one. Was just hoping we'd have a starting GK, AM and ST sorted beforehand...

Archer would be nice and comfortably filed under the "not overly inspiring but it's something I guess" category we love to shop in. Had a decent preseason apparently.

1. Specific question 2. Two minutes of skirting the specifics asked and patting ourselves on the back about how well we're doing 3. Repeat In case anybody isn't watching.

Don't believe the 30m rumours about that striker but asked my Greek mate who said the following - "The striker? I like him tbh, had a bit of a breakout season last season. He’s definitely a hard worker but not the most technical striker in the world, kinda reminds me of Shane long if my memory doesn’t deceive me"

We're not going to completely suddenly flip our playstyle for a wantaway striker who has looked mediocre with his feet every time we've seen him play, as it would be absolutely mental to do so. If you really want to keep him around as an option to throw on, switch up the tactics and lump balls into the box like we're a Pulis club when we're chasing a game, sure. Ideally we get something close to £10m and never see him again. Terrible signing, let's move on please...

£27.5m inclusive of add-ons for Carvalho.

I absolutely would against Newcastle. Somebody who can drive the ball centrally is completely devoid in this lineup.

Crazy how blatant the need for a creative/productive midfielder is. Obviously we’re trying with O’Riley/Carvalho, but I just struggle to see how we’re going to score from open play a lot of the time.

Good news that KWP is hopefully going to be put in on the opening day. Think I’m already in the Edwards over Stephens category, but there’s not much else to complain about selection wise. Plenty to complain about options wise…

Zaha to Leicester on loan. Twat but a good signing.

Even if you decide to be optimistic and claim we're slightly stronger than the team who came 4th in the Championship last year, it really does look drab. I personally think we're worse off, and when KWP goes it'll be considerably worse off.

After his start I was expecting a lot more than that for ABK when he were to leave. Sadly it now looks like a good result. I just hope we're smart enough to get a good sell-on in there because a couple of years without injury (big if) could see his value fly. Let's pray that Onuachu is close to the door as well for something around £8m? Sulemana seems a long-shot on a permanent deal.

Ronnie Edwards the winner of the night probably. Good on the ball and plenty of driving runs forward. I'd imagine Stephens starts the season but can only hope/assume Edwards gets in the LCB spot before too long.

That too!