Apparently a deal between us and Sevilla for Albert Sambi Lokonga is in the works. He’s agreed personal terms, so now it’s just down to the clubs ironing out a deal. Considering how badly he want to shed some players, hopefully it goes through. It will be good for all parties.

Edit: And we have our first official signing of the summer! We’ve signed an 18 year old Danish international keeper to our academy - Lucas Nygaard. Not exactly a first-team baller right now. But either way, welcome aboard Lucas!

Monkeypaw strikes again: TAA returns to play in midfield, totally unsettling the balance of the team.

I was listening to Romano’s transfer live stream yesterday. Doesn’t sound like we have many public deals near fruition right now.

The only one he mentioned for us that was basically a ‘here we go’ was the Raya one, which we all already knew was going to happen. For all the other ones that are out in the open we’re not the favourites.

Though I’m not too worried. I trust Edu’s transfer strategy and abilities in the market. And I suspect we have some deals simmering on the down-low that will surprise pretty much all of us.

The other thing is that we don’t need massive changes to the squad, just 2 or 3 positions. It looks like we are targeting very specific player profiles rather than just looking for a warm body to fill a given position. And I think that’s a good approach.

Who would be you guys’ ideal signings?

For me I like the look of that Turkish fullback at Fenerbahce (though it sounds like someone else will get him). And some sort of a young defensive midfielder, not sure who though. A physically big striker would be nice, but I’m not convinced by any of the big names we’ve been linked to.

This is a huge coup for Wrexham! He was pure quality for them in League 2 last season. And given that he’s currently a Championship-level keeper who is young and still improving, that’s done brilliantly to nab him.

Sounds like Amario Cozier-Duberry is about to leave us. He’s turned down a new contract because he doesn’t see a path to the starting XI.

James McClean (who is currently getting a lot of attention for playing for Wrexham, and apparently wants even more attention) is describing Declan Rice as a “poor man’s Roy Keane”. I’m actually embarrassed for McClean on this, because it shows a profound lack of understanding about how Declan plays. Possibly even a serious lack of awareness about the different types of midfielders that are out there.

Yeah, it has been a bit quiet so far. The fact that the Euros are on, plus the fact that several clubs are bring impaired by financial concerns, has taken some of the sting out of it. Although in don’t ways you expect it to be worse for us this summer.

RIP.

Yeah I’m not surprised. Probably best for both parties at this point. He’s not going to unseat Saka, and he’s now below Trossard, and even Martinelli and Vieira on the right flank pecking order. And we are actively looking to bring in another dedicated right winger.

I agree with these, mostly. I think Italy will do better though. They usually show up for the big tournaments, even if they look iffy in qualifiers.

France will be right up there, probably making it into the semis at least.

And of course now that we’re linked to Solanke, so is Chelsea. Maybe it’s just idle rumours. But as we’ve seen in the past, they always seem to be trying to steal our transfer targets. They are like an annoying younger kid in school who is always following you around trying to imitate you.

Also, apparently Ivan Toney’s price has been cut from 80+m to 60m, now that he’s in the final year of his contract.

Good points. Fixed (along with general updates).

According to Dean Jones, Edu and team were happy happy for all the public talk about us going for Sesko, because it has taken some of the attention off other transfer discussions we’ve had behind the scenes. Also, his sources say we weren’t planning on going for anyone in June, but got kind of rushed into making an offer for Sesko. So the implication is that we won’t be going for anyone big before the Euros.

Thanks. Added.

Okay Solanke, looks like you’re next on the list! (Zirkzee doesn’t seem interested, and Osimhen and Gyokeres both appear too pricey).

I’m not totally convinced he’d be an huge upgrade on either Jesus or Eddie, especially as he’d probably cost us 65m. But he did score 19 goals for Bournemouth last season and he’s proven in the PL. Would be interesting to see if he could step up his end product Even more with Ode, Saka, Rice, Trossard, etc al supplying him.

Damn. Okay, I’ll update very soon.

He was so damned unlucky with some of his shots on his return too.

It’s sounding like at least one of Smith Rowe and Vieira will be leaving this summer. There had been a lot of chatter about other English clubs going in for ESR. But now Porto are sounding very keen on Vieira.

Personally, if we have to lose one or the other, I’d prefer to lose Vieira. He’s a very gifted player, but I don’t think physically he’s a good fit for the PL. It’s not his height (there have been plenty of shorter players who have excelled in the PL - Zola, Foden, Sterling, and our own Santi Cazorla). It’s more that he looks like a mild breeze would knock him over.

Mariona Caldentey: Barcelona forward agrees to join Arsenal as Gunners seek Vivianne Miedema replacement.

Wait, who said that?