I'm not saying that's the mentality I agree with or want to see. I want players signed in pre-season, ideally right at the start of it or now.
But there's loads of factors in play that may mean that's not possible for the targets we have. Some of that may be the club's doing. Some of it won't be.
In the case of the targets we know of:
1. Hojbjerg - we wanted him, but he said no. Dropped our interest.
2. Gabriel - had a deal agreed in principle, due to COVID and likely due to realising we had bigger priorities than CB once footy restarted/Gbamin got another injury, we have tried to renegotiate. We'll have to see what happens.
3. Allan - only mentioned in Italian media, but a lot of links. His season has just finished.
In the case of the latter two, if they were to come in, then Gabriel has been training, but not playing, non-stop since the end of June/start of July. He'll be fit, just not match sharp, but again that won't make any difference because the rest of our squad are the same. So whether he comes in now, or in two weeks' time, there's very little difference.
Allan - he won't be in until September regardless even if he signs tomorrow. You'd think he'd have 2-3 weeks off like the rest of them.