Signing a new player has to be one of the most inexact sciences in the world. Right up there with gold digging and trying to pick the winning numbers in tonight?s Euro Lottery.  

Successes are relatively few and far between and are outnumbered by those players you sign who turn out to be either ?meh? or complete duds.

We should know. For every Emi Buendia, there have been numerous Ben Marshalls. For every Teemu Pukki, there have been plenty of Yanic Wildschuts.

The trick, of course, is to try and minimize the percentage of failures; a trick performed admirably by Kieran Scott in his time here ? Buendia and Pukki were his two biggest hits ? where he appeared to squeeze every last penny from a very limited transfer kitty.

Alas, in August 2021 Scott ? who, rumour had it at the time, was being primed to replace Stuart Webber ? departed for the post of sporting director at Middlesbrough.
By coincidence or otherwise, Scott?s departure signalled a significant downturn in the productivity of City?s recruitment department. The Buendias and Pukkis dried up. The Marshalls and Wildcshuts were two a penny.

And we?re still in that relatively barren land.

Last week, Adam Forshaw ? one of our 2023 summer signings ? left the club to join Plymouth after having played just nine games. A week earlier, Ui-jo Hwang had his season-long loan terminated and returned to Nottingham Forest.

The jury is still out on the rest of last summer’s intake, albeit, to be fair...