Transfer due diligence has been ongoing throughout the summer, with the first new signing yet to be announced, but the focus has been placed on quality rather than quantity. With a small squad working to Nuno Espirito Santo’s advantage last season, Thelwell insist any new arrivals must be the perfect match and rushed decisions will not be made before the transfer window closes on 8th August.
On potential transfers
“As always, we’re working away. We’ve been doing preparation work for a long period now. Of course, sometimes you’re governed by what the market looks like. That sometimes goes a bit slower than everybody would want.
“We need to be judged when the transfer window closes because it is all about securing the right player that’s going to be able to help us going forward for a long period.
“We’d all want it to be done much earlier, but it never works out that way. We’re working very hard and we’re confident we’ll secure the right players to help us this season.”
On keeping the group together
“We’re not expecting a huge amount of movement in or out, truth be known. I think we’ve got a very strong and solid group of players, and we want to build on the momentum and cohesion we’ve already got, and Nuno’s been very focused on that.
“Wholesale changes are not on the agenda, it’s small tweaks to allow us to keep the squad nice and fresh moving forwards.”
On little Premier League movement
“For whatever reason, everybody makes statements about going early, but they never do. You need some movement for things to open up and create opportunities for you to sign players.
“All I can say is we’re working really hard on it, we’re trying to get the players in as quickly as we possibly can, but without panicking, we need to be nice and patient at this stage and recognise it’s about securing the right players, rather than just securing players.”
On the squad size
“Nuno’s preference in particular is to work with a similar size group to what he’s worked with before. He prefers a smaller senior group, so everybody has the opportunity to play, and supplement that with some very good young players. We see it being no different.
“Of course, we’ll still have some opportunity in the window after we’ve played some competitive games, so there’s always a chance to review and evaluate that strategy as we get closer to the end of the window, and we’ll do that on a day to day basis.”
