Slim

Evening Express reporting Luis “Duk” Lopes inbound from Benfica, striker seemingly.

Not sure it’s worth getting your underwear soiled over visa issues. It’s the same for everyone at the moment and I’m sure there are more deserving people stuck in the approval process than a football player scheduled to play Peterhead.

Dylan Levitt is available for £300k. I’d go for that rather than Ronan for £500k or McGrath on loan.

Sounds like he’s a downgrade from Woods, his Wikipedia page makes him sound like the reincarnation of Bertrand Bossu.

Would be better if the pin stripes were on the back too but I think there’s a wanky FIFA/UEFA rule to thank for that. They’ll be the highest volume selling strips in years, when they’re eventually in stock.

I expect they need the cash to pay for Shankland. I’d rather have Boyce to be honest.

Somewhat apt that the modern-day Dennis Wyness is ending up there on a big contract. Will be loaned to Queens Park/Ayr in the January transfer window (and probably end up being the division top scorer).

Maybe not but considering he had zero other offers when he left Killie as a 20-something Scotland international other than a short term deal with Motherwell and zero other offers when that short term deal expired, I don’t think the market price will be that high with a year left on his contract, his increasing age and his rapid descent down the Scotland pecking order now behind Patterson, Ralston and Hickey, and soon Ramsay.

Probably worth just chucking £50k at whoever Stephen O’Donnell’s playing for these days and focus the larger transfer fees on positions that have a higher impact on results.

£4.5m plus £3m of potential add-ons plus a 20% sell-on clause according to BBC. If true, I think that’s a very good deal for us, especially considering his shit form since coming back from injury. Still has a medical to pass though.

Seeing as we have had 2 local loons jump ship to Mordor in recent years, with none of our foreign signings lowering themselves to such an act since Theo Snelders (and even then he was more or less forced out) I think it’s fair to say we’re better off having players from the Balkans than Balmedie.

Is Hickey carrying a knock or something? I don’t even think Greg Taylor’s own parents would pick him ahead of Hickey otherwise.

Hanley is absolute horse shit. One of those defenders (Colin Hendry at higher end of the scale, Zander Diamond at the lower end) that can sometimes look deceptively good with last gasp tackles or goal line clearances but more often than not the scoring chance only came about because they lost their marker or were caught out of position.

Ferguson not on the bench tonight?

Sounds like a Forrester type, always injured and no desire to fight for a place in the team: And did he show the hunger required of someone desperate to break into the team? It was something Mowbray had questioned, stating earlier in the season: "He’s a lovely boy and I’ve told him so many times that he has to find personality, some anger and frustration in his belly when he’s not picked."

Part time status will make it difficult to get anyone decent in, Paul Sheerin maybe?

Shinnie is a no-brainer if he’s available. Should fit in with the Albanian chap if we mirror our best midfield 3 in recent years. Ramadani can fill the Ryan Jack role, Shinnie can fill the Graeme Shinnie role and Ferguson/replacement can do the Kenny McLean role.

Hopefully that’s the last we see of Hanley. We should be cementing our long-term back 3 around Souttar, Hendry and McKenna. I’d stick Hickey in midfield where he’s been playing quite a bit in the Serie A, at least until Gilmour does enough at club level to justify his place in the team. He’s getting nowhere near the Chelsea team and has just wasted a development year being pish at Norwich.

They did a U-turn on Considine?

I’d have Callum Hendry too if he’s going free and cheap. He started to look serviceable in his last few games on loan with us and has been in good firm for the last 6 months or so in a shite St Johnstone team. I think there’s enough talent in there for a back up striker role at least, something different (more direct) from the bench if Ramirez is still here and not having much joy. Edit - that was weird

Port Vale currently winning despite fielding a forward pairing of James Wilson and Ryan Edmonston.

Papers this morning regurgitating the Ferguson to Cagliari for £3.5m story from January. Considering they’re in the Serie A relegation places with 2 games to go and Inter up next, I doubt there will be much in that.

“We’ve spoken to Luke and his representatives," Goodwin told The Press And Journal. "We believe it’s probably in Luke’s best interests because of the players we’ve got coming through. “Luke has had a really good loan period over in Northern Ireland and has done particularly well. However, we just believe it’s a little bit short for what we’re looking at in that area. “We’ve got another one or two good young centre-backs coming through the system and you’re always wary of blocking that pathway. “It would have been easy to give the young man another year or two and do the same again with him next year. But we felt it was right just to give him the opportunity to go and find something a bit more permanent somewhere else. “These decisions have to be made. In hindsight, you hope to be proved that they’re the right ones.” Doesn’t really seem to clarify anything really, have we had any of these young central defenders on the bench in recent weeks?

Can anyone copy and paste what Goodwin’s saying about it in the P&J this morning?

I don’t know about that, I’d be more of the opinion that if you send a young player out on loan with the objective of making an impact and he ends up winning an award for the best young player in the entire country while winning silverware with his team, he would automatically deserve at least a year extension to see if your preconceptions about him may have been wrong or if he’s a delayed bloomer. Especially if his position is exactly the same as one we’re desperate to fill. I would go so far as saying giving him a modest extension would be a lower risk than any other signing we will make this summer.