Blades bid for Holmes

So, who is confident that Ricky Holmes will still be at The Valley next season?

The South London Press “has been told that Charlton have received an offer but made it clear they have no intention of parting with the attacker, who won the Player of the Year award.” I think we have seen this movie before..

Losing Holmes would be a hammer blow to Addicks and Karl Robinson. Last summer the club did resist offers for Ademola Lookman, before eventually cashing in on him in January, but any bid for Holmes would likely represent a large premium on the £125,000 we paid Northampton. Charlton have offered Holmes an extension to his contract which expires in 2018 but at this stage in his career, you would hardly blame Holmes for moving up a division to work with a manager he knows well.

One player that has gone, to which no one shed a tear was Roger Johnson. Johnson was ‘rescued’ from the Indian Super League and paid £5k a week by Katrien Meire, and was largely ignored by Russell Slade and Karl Robinson. Money well spent. Thanks for nothing Roger.

20-year old ‘keeper Dimitar Mitov, centre-half Terell Thomas, who was at Woking on loan last season, and striker Chris Millar have also been released.

Unlike last year, pre-season has already come together in good time. It’s a nice mix of friendlies, which begin in Ireland following a training camp, and end at home to Ipswich a week before the opening League One game.

Good luck to Ezri Konsa who has been called up to the England U20 squad for the FIFA U20 World Cup tournament in South Korea. Konsa is the lowest ranked player in the squad and joined Ademola Lookman in South Korea and both were unused subs in the young lions opening 3-0 win over Argentina.

Finally good luck also to Simon Clark who has taken a coaching role with Notts County.