Stating the obvious but Bell, Mulgrew, Bennett are not good enough. How on earth are these players still starting after the shambolic defensive record last season? Lenihan is good, Nyambe has potential, Walton will be good, and Williams is an ok back-up centre half but that’s the extent of any quality we have in defensive areas. Big week ahead on the transfer front.

My predicted team: Walton Bennett Mulgrew Lenihan Bell Travis Johnson Armstrong Dack Downing Graham The team I would like to see: Walton Nyambe Mulgrew Lenihan Bell Travis Johnson Armstrong Dack Rothwell Graham

Good summary.

I think we’re very much in the dark horses category next season, probably along with Brentford. I think a top 6 finish is a real possibility as we’ve got a decent squad and it’s a weak league this year. Fulham have got the best team by miles and Leeds will be decent too, but then there’s not a lot in it. The two other teams who’ve come down from the prem are nothing to worry about, and some of the teams who did well last year (West Brom, Derby, Middlesbrough) have lost good players and are under new management. Even other teams who finished above (e.g Forest and Brum, if you discount their points deduction) have had unstable summers.

That sounds very promising. Two things that we lack in our defence - heading ability and pace - so hopefully he can help plug those gaps. We have to stop conceding goals from simple crosses into the box.

I’m not too fussed whether the city guy signs or not. He may well be a good player and I’d support him if he comes, but I’m not a huge fan of loan signings, especially when there’s little chance of signing them after their loan period.

You’re absolutely right. It does look like we have a golden generation of young players coming through our youth system and the future is bright if they stick around. Add that to the likes of Rothwell, Brereton (I think he’ll come good) and Chapman, and we have a very good set of young players. The transfer dealings so far have lacked the wow factor, but our younger players coming through mean we could have a very strong year.

Good GK, pleased to have him here. Not sure if he’s an upgrade on Raya though, probably about the same. Hopefully the Raya cash will be spent on a CB, as TM has said recently.

That would make sense. Walton is surely not coming here to sit on the bench; and Eastwood is an experienced, cheap option who won’t mind being a back-up GK.

I struggle to see the logic in signing Walton on loan and bringing in an experienced GK on a perm. Surely the experienced GK will be the one to start which leaves Walton warming the bench. Walton is a very good young GK, but it’s hard to get excited about a player who won’t be ours longer term. Also slightly concerned about the comment that “we'll see what’s left in the budget” after the two signings today. Two GKs and a loan signing in defence will not sort out our defence problems. I’m hoping that’s just a smokescreen to catch other clubs off guard who also may be chasing the same players we are.

Key learning points: we have to start Rothwell and Travis when the real action begins. Johnson did much better alongside Travis, but Downing was pretty poor throughout I thought. Left back is a big problem, Bell still looks woeful. He gives the ball away every time he gets it.

I look at it in terms of where do we need to add quality in order to make a top 6 push, not on numbers of players in that position. Evans/Smallwood/Bennett are not good enough; Davenport may well be out for a while on the treatment table; and Buckley is still very young and most likely is not ready to play week in, week out. Think we need one more in there on a cheap-ish deal. Signing Adam would therefore make sense to me, but sounds like that is now unlikely to happen.

GK and the Man City loanee to be announced today? My money is still on Carson for the GK position, although I’d prefer Joe Hart. Experienced centre half, another GK, LB, and central midfielder needed after that.

He can play RB too so that gives us cover there too. LT reporting that it’s virtually a done deal.

James Wilkinson on Twitter: I wouldn’t be surprised to see a loan player from Man City arrive at Ewood in the coming days. Usually very reliable poster. Edit: player called Adarabioyo

Just a hunch. We’ll find out in the next 48 hours.

So it looks as if Carson will be the keeper we’re signing. Good pedigree and good age for a GK.

We really are short of transfer rumours if we are discussing a tweet from a fake twitter account I have faith that things are happening behind the scenes and things are being tied up. The Bradley Johnson transfer came from nowhere and was only speculated about the day before he actually signed, so I wouldn’t be surprised if our next signing is done in a similar way. My money is on a GK next followed by Charlie Adam.

So, it looks as though Gallagher is nearly over the line. I will be pleased with that signing as I think he's in a very similar mould to Graham and is his natural successor. He's not someone who has the wow factor, but nonetheless a pretty good signing for 5m in today's market and he knows the club and the players fairly well so he can hopefully hit the ground running. I would say our forward thinking players have the potential to get us in and around the top 6. The midfield looks decent with Bradley Johnson, Travis, and Davenport (and Buckley looks good too). Think we could do with one more in there and then ship out both Evans and Smallwood. The defence requires major surgery still, no question about that. Our defensive line up is probably bottom 6, so we need 3 or 4 new faces back there (GK, LB, two CHs). I'm not panicking yet as there is still plenty of time to reinforce our defence (and I think we will), but I will be concerned if no major additions are made to the backline by the time the widow closes.

The guy on twitter is a fake. He/she is picking up rumours from different online sources and then turning them into 'fact' and hoping a few of them come off to make him/her look genuine. Joe Hart to Rovers may happen, but it has been rumoured for a while now.

Big blow to Sheffield W to lose Bruce, he’s a very good manager at this level. That’s another one of our rivals thrown into chaos.

Reading between the lines, Raya was clearly told we were going to bring in another GK and he was unlikely to be an automatic first choice. He therefore pushed for a move to a club where he would be first choice. TM doesn't rate Raya and that has been clear from some of the comments he made about him last season and dropping him for the final few games of the season. On other transfer rumours, I wouldn't want to sign Butterfield and I don't think we will. However, I do think we'll end up signing Charlie Adam as he does have that bit of quality that is hard to come by and therefore he is probably worth taking a risk on. He's never had any pace so I think it's more about whether he still has the motivation to work hard and stay fit. My hunch is that it will be a busy week. The Gallagher situation will likely move forward now that Wigan have made a bid, I'm pretty sure he'll come here if we match their offer. I also suspect we'll know the identity of Raya's replacement towards the end of the week.

If it turns out to be Darlow in for Raya, which looks like it may well be, then that is very good business. I'd expect Gallagher to come in next week too. We're certainly adding championship experience to our ranks.

That's the way to do transfer business. Keep it quiet until the day before he's officially unveiled. Great signing! Proven, experienced championship midfielder. Sad to see Raya on the verge of leaving as I think he will be a good GK in the future. However, I will reserve judgement on the decision to sell him until we see who had been lined up to replace him. If it's Joe Hart then we'll have done some good business there.

Way too early to say, but I'd say the teams coming down from the premier league are not that great (Fulham may do ok but they have a rookie manager) and several teams around us seem to be imploding (e.g. Birmingham, Swansea, Nottingham Forest). Brentford seem likely to lose a large proportion of their best players, as do Leeds. Just for the reasons above, I think we're currently looking at an improved finish on last season. Also, we have Samuel, Davenport, and Chapman who will feel like new signings as they barely played last season; and I'd fully expect Breo to be much improved on last season, and Rothwell to start where he finished off last season. Add that to some of the youth players that look ready to make an impact on the first team, particularly Butterworth, and we are probably a little stronger that this time last year. However, as it stands, we'll concede way too many goals to challenge for a top 6 place so our hopes will largely depend on who we can sign at the back.