Daily transfer rumours from the press as Hull City prepare for life in the Premier League.
SO have Hull City finally found reason to end their striker search with Yannick Sagbo finding the net on his debut in Germany yesterday?
It was certainly a positive start for the £1.6m star, and with the departures of Corry Evans and Tom Cairney to Blackburn last week, the focus now certainly looks to be in midfield.
With manager Steve Bruce admitting a move for Stoke's Wilson Palacios, a deal he has chased all summer, appears to be 'drifting further away', there are suggestions he may now turn to former club Sunderland to strengthen.
The name being touted is that of Jack Colback, as he has refused to sign a new deal at the Stadium of Light, with a fee of around £4.5m thought to be on him.
With Bruce admitting last week's transfer business had been aimed at adding cash to his kitty, perhaps this is why?
He surely still has some cash to spend on transfers, given he was operating on a budget of around £10m at the start of the sunner.
Colback, 23, has one year left on his existing deal with the Black Cats, and that could help City when it comes to negotiating on price.
Of course, Bruce hinted that he would like three new midfield players in place before lining up to face Chelsea on the opening day, and that means he will be keeping a close eye on trialist Eric Tie Bi in the coming days, following his short cameo appearance in Germany on Saturday night.
The Evian midfielder, also 23, is due for a longer run-out in Tuesday night's final friendly in Germany, as Bruce ponders a possible move.
The third possible addition? Well, that is increasingly looking like Marseille's creative midfielder Morgan Amalfitano, a player Bruce believes could be the man to add that extra quality needed in the middle.
It is our understanding that Bruce will look to push that deal on this week, and that is the one furthest down to the line to a possible completion at present.August 3
Hull City could raid French side Evian for another of their French-Ivorian stars, following the signing of Yannick Sagbo.
Striker Sagbo is expected to be joined by former team-mate Eric Tié Bi for a short trial during City's trip in Germany.
The 23-year-old midfielder will not be considered to play any part in today's game against Dynamo Dresden, with Steve Bruce content to pass judgement in training for now.
Tié Bi, who plays as a defensive midfielder, joined Evian from Lyon in 2010 and made 24 appearances last season.
However, despite claims by TalkSport that a deal is imminent, our own Phil Buckinham, who is with City in Germany, thinks the trial is only "speculative" at present and the search for new signings will go on around him.
Bruce tells today's Mail he is looking to bring up to three midfielders after the departure this week of Corry Evans and Tom Cairney to Blackburn Rovers.
But while he retains some hope of signing Wilson Palacios from Stoke City - despite Mark Hughes's apparent reluctance to sell - there is no substance at present to rumours he will move for Jermaine Jenas, Scott Parker and Jake Livermore.
Jenas is set to play for QPR against Sheffield Wednesday as the Championship season kicks off today and claims City triggered a release clause in his contract appear to be wide of the mark.
Instead, Bruce is likely to look to the European market, with Marseille's creative midfielder Morgan Amalfitano a possible option on a season-long loan.
Amalfitano can play across the midfield and has plenty of pedigree, having picked up Champions League experience with Marseille along with a single cap for the French national side. However, he has been in and out of the first team and could welcome a chance to develop in the Premier League.
The departure of Evans for a fee of £600,000, which could rise to £800,000 based on appearances, represents a small profit on the £500,000 fee City paid Manchester United two years ago, and gives Bruce room for manoeuvre on his wage bill.
"It puts a bit more in our kitty," said Bruce.The one that got away? ... Fans in Dresden may be looking forward to seeing Sagbo in action for the first time today, but one striker who has certainly hit the ground running is former City target Gary Hooper who netted twice for new team Norwich when they faced Braga last night.Crazy Twitter talk: Is letting Blackburn take Cairney and Evans a sweetener for Jordan Rhodes? Honestly? ... almost certainly not.August 2
Looks like City are cooling their interest in Sunderland outcast Lee Cattermole. New boss Paolo Di Canio had been expected to off-load red card magnet Cattermole, leaving him out of a pre-season tour of the Far East and waiting for offers, among them one being touted from Hull City.
But according to the Chronicle in Newcastle, the Black Cats are willing to hang on to Cattermole for the right price, and they say only Fulham now remain as a genuine contender for a £2.5million move for the midfielder who still has a deal on Wearside running to 2016.
Fulham are also now front-runners to pick up another player out of favour with Di Canio, full-back Phil Bardsley who had also been linked to City.
But Bruce may still have some interest in his old club with Jack Colback still on his radar after the 23-year-old refused a contract extension. The fact is though that Colback has been playing on the left side of midfield and as a left back, not areas Bruce is short of options on.
Interestingly this all comes as City midfielder Corry Evans was sold to Blackburn this afternoon, the Northern Ireland player signing a three year contract. Evans, a former Manchester United youth player, made 36 appearances in the Tigers midfield last season.
It was City's second deal with the Lancashire club, with fellow City midfielder Tom Cairney joining them earlier this week on loan.
But with midfielders leaving instead of arriving, Bruce must be confident of bringing someone in soon.
There is still time, of course, to bring in a seasoned Premier League striker too.
The Daily Mail reports that West Brom are still looking for a buyer for frozen out forward Peter Odemwingie. The Mail says Cardiff have shown interest again but the Birmingham club are holding out for £3m which, together with Premier wage demands, is a hefty investment. Hull City had been linked a few weeks ago to the Nigerian before signing Danny Graham.
Probably more attractive to City fans would be Nicklas Bendtner. Will the Arsenal striker ever find a club? The latest to rule the Dane is too expensive are Dutch outfit FC Twente who pulled out of a deal to sign him because of his wage demands, according to Dutch paper De Telegraaf
A similar deal with Bundesliga team Hanover fell at the same hurdle a few weeks ago and at the time there were suggestions Bendtner could be heading for Hull City. But although he wouldn't rule out a move, Steve Bruce has also said he doesn't think City can cope with Bendtner's wages, estimated at £50k a week - even with Arsenal pitching a hefty contribution for the last year of his contract.
But with the new season looming, Arsenal will be keen to shift Bendtner on, and may sanction a subsidised season-long loan. Even with his improved striker options, that may be something Bruce, whose managed Bendtner on loan twice previously, would take an interest in.
In other news, Harry Redknapp has picked up Charlie Austinat QPR and says, as long they can provide the service, he's confident the former Burnley man, who failed a medical at Hull this summer, will be able to maintain his free scoring form and stay injury free.
Harry told the Evening Standard "He's obviously got an issue with his knee but that's why we were able to get him. It doesn't affect him. I've worked with players like that before in Julian Dicks and Ricardo Fuller and they never missed a game. He scored a fantastic array of goals last season."
Meanwhile as City head off for Germany, they may not realise they are heading into a little bit of a domestic row involving one of their opponents Dynamo Dresden. Seems their friendly against Dresden is only happening because the club was ordered to play ties in the German domestic cup competition, the DFB Cup, behind closed doors after their fans rioted in the previous two tournaments.
Because of the ban Dresden lost out on some important revenue, as well as their lively fans losing out on seeing them in action, so the club decided to revive an old pre-German reunification contest called the FDGB cup which City will be opening.
The cup is named after the former East German mass trade union, the Free German Trade Union Federation, which represented just about every worker in East Germany before the Cold War ended. And of course it wasn't "free"'. The only time it's members went on strike in the 1950s, the Soviet Union sent in the tanks to stop it.
Things have changed though. When Dresden fans last rioted, last November, there were no tanks, just 1,000 police on hand to prevent trouble.
Politics and history, bet you didn't think you'd find that in transfer rumours!
