Happy Friday rumour mill lads (and lasses). With Henderson and Osborn imminent, and McBurnie potentially not being resolved until next week (according to RC), what else is there?
In addition to this back-up keeper, which I'm not even going to pretend to know enough about to speculate on, it sounds like Wilder still wants to strengthen midfield. It wouldn't surprise me if Osborn isn't the only one to come in. For me, Wilder as good as confirmed interest in Leroy Fer and RC has spoken of interest in Romaine Sawyers, as well as one or two potential loan options being looked at. So I think there's a decent chance that we get Osborn + 1 other.
One thing Wilder said when speaking to Andy Giddings the other day was how he's looking to get the balance right to make sure we've got variety and all systems are covered. I reckon that rules out an attacking mid, which is why we probably didn't go for Sawyers in the end despite the reasonable fee. We have a number of options to cover that 10 role. I know Sawyers can play a couple of midfield slots, but I think he'd be wasted with us. Osborne covers Fleck's role in our preferred system and provides left-sided balance.
All that in mind means I reckon Fer is the kind of midfielder we want. Strong, good ball player, tenacious in defence. It's everything Reece James would be too, although I don't think we'll be able to get him. Lampard seems to want him in the first team. And if he goes out in loan, I reckon somewhere like Palace would make more sense for a number of reasons, not least location.
Any names,
Richard Cadette? Or
Ricky, this is normally where I'd give the floor to you...