We need players. We have a squad of 24 from my last count but that includes the youngsters, not of all which will be ready just yet. Our first pre-season friendly is on Saturday.
It doesn’t seem for a lack of trying though, as two decent-looking deals still appear to be on the table.
In need of a defender or two, Bakary Kone has surfaced as an option we have considered. The Burkinabe (that’s what you call someone from Burkina Faso wouldn’t you know?) centre-back is a free agent after leaving Malaga, who were relegated from La Liga. He moved to Spain a couple of years ago after a decent time in France but things didn’t work out for him and while the club was dropping out of La Liga with a whimper last season, he was back in France, on loan at Strasbourg. He has plenty of international experience and can be probably be put in the ‘imposing’ category rather than a ball-playing centre-back.
Joao Carlos Teixeira still seems a possibility too. Porto tend to loan out players due to having a bizarrely large squad, although there has been noise of a permanent deal. He has rarely played a full season looking at the stats, but he was well-received by Brighton fans when he spent the 2014-15 season on loan at the Amex.