Another 22-year-old right back.

Get him on a choochoo & get him over here. Maybe big Sean will like this one.

A nightmare for a dad buying his two sons a replica shirt? If he is any good and cheap enough, why not?

However, it would be better if he could also play left-back as we have virtually no cover (apart from Ashley Young) for Mykolenko.

I suppose with all these mooted transfers, it's a case of wait and see what transpires.

I am really liking the trajectory of our buying or aspirations to buy this summer. Youngish, cheapish, resale value perhaps.

I think that this is a Thelwell window. And how about Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Austria…?

I keep saying - cover for Mykolenko:

Aston Villa have just bought a new left-back for £30M so £5M for a 31-year-old Lucas Digne. Solved.

Phil, at that price it would be a good move.

Lucas Digne was forced out of the club by the FSW so it would be a great idea to give Mykolenko some cover and competition.

This lad has played, RB plus RM and LM. Good luck to him.

LB available on a free right now is Sergi Cardona, age 24, valued at £6m by Transfer Mkt, Played in for Las Palmas in La Liga last season. Has played LB 127 times and part of the Las Palmas team that was promoted the season before. May be worth a look. He was born in Lloret Del Mar, so may have a Scouse Mum !

Digne is more comfortable as LWB with 3 centre-backs.

Mykolenko is better defensively; Digne is better offensively.

Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson. Get Ben Johnson.

Or not. Oops.

Lucas Digne is on about £130k a week.

Personally I think we should go for the Hull pair Greaves and the winger.

We could always throw Keane of Holgate in as a sweetener or even both… God, how lucky could we get??

This is a very worrying transfer window so far:

1. A reserve from Aston Villa with championship experience that looks like an FFP dodge.

2. Harrison again who didn't really impress last season.

3. A winger from France with a poor strike rate and again with Championship experience.

4. Linked with 2 Championship Hull City players.

If you sign Championship players then we'll end up in the Championship.

Phil #4,

The problems with the Digne idea are:

1. Wages. He's on over £100k a week. We're not going to be able to afford that.

2. He won't want to come as a backup left-back. Why would he?

3. Transfer strategy: we're finally buying players for cheap fees, low wages and with high potential + early 20s. I support this policy.

Very quiet on Michael Keane.

Is he going to stay as a reserve? Can’t see he’d want that.

Ian @15. I agree.

We should have gone for Haaland, Rodri and Palmer.

Ian #15.

3) He's not a winger.

For those commenting that buying from the Championship will lead us to the Championship, just a reminder that Cahill was playing in that league when we bought him.

The Premier League is becoming a nightmare for the TV commentators with all those double-barreled and unpronounceable surnames.

Everton getting a few of their own now!

Ian #15.

Fancy a little wager on whether we go down or not next season?

Ian #15,

We bought Tim Cahill from a Championship team. I must have missed our relegation to the Championship soon afterwards.

Olise, Eze, Bellingham, Wharton etc etc all purchased from Championship clubs.

Very good market for us.

To those who beat me to it re Ian #15,

We have signed many players from 'lower' leagues in the past without being relegated.

Hadn't Tarkowski just been relegated when we signed him? Would you get rid now?

Cahill has been mentioned. Seamus from the highly regarded Irish league. Didn't Southall come from non-league via Bury? What a mistake.

We signed Branthwaite from Carlisle FFS!

I'll take a chill pill. Glass half=full guys! This is the best early transfer window for ages.

Steve (17)

I hope you are right about Keane but he was a reserve for most of last season and I doubt he will ever get the wages he is on at Everton again, so don't be surprised if he sees his contract out.

Digne probably has another club lined up and has asked to leave Villa, I doubt they would want him to go otherwise.

I can see where Ian is coming from, there's no need to jump on him, we are not likely to buy stars or can afford them at the moment but that's why the top teams are top teams, they buy at the top table.

It does look like Thelwell is putting in plenty of time looking for bargains from wherever, good luck to him we will have to see how it turns out.

That's a depressing thought, Dave.

He is the last big wage holdout left from the days of ridiculous spending.

Raymond #27.

Raymond, in reference to the first part of the opening sentence of your second paragraph. I'll paraphrase some 'oft-used words at Goodison, "If you knew the history."

I get you, Brian, now you mention it.

You've jogged my poor old memory in regards to Ian.

[Taps side of nose.…]

Nice one centurion. ;-)

Brighton are signing Malick Yalcouye for £8m. Really interesting young livewire. Him plus Mats Wieffer and Minteh looks like a really good start to the window for them.

I'm always jealous of Brighton's transfer dealings! Though if we add Philogene to Ndiaye then I'll be happy enough.

I've been looking at some of the free transfers available – I'm a bit surprised we're not more active on this path.

As Rob Jones mentioned above, Ben Johnson would have been a good free right-back, but he's signed for Ipswich now.

I thought about Brandon Williams as the backup left back with decent potential, but if you Google him and click ‘News' you'll see he's probably being swerved on ‘character' grounds.

I'd be very interested in Ryan Sessegnon but he's currently listed as injured and has had both hamstrings operated on in the last 18 months or so.

Arsenal have released a right-back, Reuell Walters and ‘The New Saka', Amario Cozier-Duberry (both 19). I don't know if we'd still have to pay a development fee but I'm surprised that we're not working this market as a low cost, potentially high reward area.

And that's before we even start to look overseas at more experienced free agents. I'm a little worried that lots of the more credible links are all to players who might miss chunks of the season to the AFCON (or have they finally decided to hold that in the European off-season?). I don't want to lose 5 players for 6 weeks in one go any time soon.

Mike the two boys from Arsenal plus Micah Hamilton of City would be very interesting signings. All very good players and all out of contract.

On the 'only go for established name players' argument, I totally disagree. All these so-called superstars must have started somewhere, before peaking and being recognised.

Okay, the 'relatively unknowns' may not always work out, but that is also the case with expensive 'big names'. We have had our fair share of these in the past, and look where it has got us? Deep shit in PSR with Transfer Fees and of course fat salaries and long contracts!

I thoroughly agree with DK. Bringing in talented youngsters is how you build a squad, and it only takes one or two to come good for the strategy to pan out.

Around the time we bought Branthwaite, our other youthful investments were guys like Onyekuru, Nkounkou, Kean, Mykolenko and Patterson.

Some work out, some don't, but overall it seems like we have come out pretty well. Our worst buys are always the established veterans, not the kids.

Ian #15 So championship players aren't good enough for the Premiership? Maddison, Jenas, Lescott, Ramsey, Cahill and Bale are just a few who might say different.

Christy, Ian says stuff and then thinks if he is right he will be hailed and if wrong, no one will remember.

Most on here recall what he has said, on and off the live forum, for the last few years; which is why he is a kind of fun figure.

Not the role he sees himself in, which I suspect is, bold contrarian, speaks his mind, sticks his neck out etc, etc.

Harmless, really.

Andy #38,

I know Ian from the live forum well, and from here, can't forget him for calling Ancelotti a dinosaur, probably the most successful manager ever, even after leaving us.

The RS signed probably one of their greatest centre forwards ever from li'l old Chester City.

His name escapes me right now, but I seem to remember him doing quite well for them, especially against us!

Rob @ 37, don't Rush it, probably come to you when you are in bed ! :-)

Derek #2

I never had that problem as my son defected to the Dark Side when he was about eight.

Once I'd got over the initial shock, the positives kicked in. The main ones were the fortune I saved on replica kits, match tickets and away travel.

Tom #18,

I'm just hoping that his name is not pronounced Thatcher!

What about the Slovenian GK? Looks a good stand-in for JP (from what I have seen so far). Don't know his age though!

Bob # 46, the Slovenian GK, Jan Oblak, is indeed very good - but I don't think he'd be keen on swapping the No 1 spot at Atletico Madrid for a place on our bench.

Probably so Robert. Wasn't he brilliant against the Netherlands, though.

On another thought. How do you rate the talk about getting Lucas Digne back? I don't like players returning, TBH. It often fails. So, it's a No for me.

Bob P,

I think almost the same myself, and that applies not only to players, but managers too.

However, there are always exceptions to that Rule of Thumb, in which I would cite our own Gana Gueye as being one of those, a generally unsung hero on both of his stints!

Bob # 48, Digne - good though he was for a spell - is exactly the sort of player we shouldn't be signing anymore other than on a free. Rapidly deteriorating in value and relatively high fee / wages. We would get very, very little value out of a signing like that.

Lots and lots of talented younger, cheaper LBs out there. Or older ones on a free.

Agree Robert 50#, Digne also had gone off the boil by the time we sold them.

Can we take Digne and give them Ashley Young back?