During my week out of the country there was the usual rumours surfacing linking the club to the usual players (including this pair of stories from the Spanish dailies) but perhaps the strongest story around was the potential interest in Wolfburg's Edin Dzecko.
Dzecko has built himself an impressive reputation in the Bundesliga in recent times, and speculation has linked him with a host of the big sides around Europe and appears to be the type of player that Roberto Mancini is looking for - young, hungry and ready to take that step to the next level.
We know that Dzecko had a buy out clause of 40 million Euros in his current contract, and Sky Sports initially suggested we were looking to meet that valuation but as the deadline loomed to activate the clause (midnight last night) it was reported that the club were happy to allow this to pass - which of course proved to be the case.
This appears to suggest one of two things - either there is no substance to the reports of our interest, or that the club is of the opinion that the valuation is too high and they believe that a lower price can now be negotiated.
Tor-Kirstian Karlsen believes this not to be the case though as he tweeted that Wolfsburg would not accept lower than the clause that was in his contract, and that there preference would be to keep the player at the club.
With the release clause though now having passed it does leave hopes of completing any deal before the World Cup unlikely, leaving the club without having secured any of their targets prior to the World Cup commencing, leaving any potential signings therefore not joining up with the squad until well into pre-season training - not the message that eminated from inside the club at the end of the season.