Cardiff City's summer has been the busiest in the Championship. It's served to add excitement and intrigue, if even a little bit of a trepidation, ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
That kicks off in exactly one month's time, when the Bluebirds welcome recently-relegated Norwich City to Cardiff City Stadium on July 30.
It's fair to say that with nine new signings and the fantastic news of Joe Ralls penning a new deal, it's hardly been a quiet few months and lots of hard work has gone into it all. But there are 30 crucial days ahead in which Cardiff will need to iron a few things out, which we take a look at below...
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Sort the striker situation out
It's not for the want of trying, it should be said, but Cardiff's lack of signing up front is quickly becoming the elephant in the room, one which the recruitment team are trying very hard to clear.
Cardiff brought in Jordan Hugill and Uche Ikpeazu in January and it completely altered their fortunes, along with the other quality loan signings like Tommy Doyle and Cody Drameh, of course. Hugill showed his quality and gave Cardiff a platform in games, even if his goal return wasn't as impressive as some might have liked, while Ikpeazu himself hit the back of the net at important times in crucial games.
It's clear that, at the minute, City's striking options are not up to scratch and they need help. James Collins' debut season was a bit of a nightmare for him and he was nowhere near the squad for the final few months of the season. It's understood he is at the stage of his career where, understandably, he wants to be playing. Will he get that at Cardiff? Well, the signs since Steve Morison took over are not overly encouraging for him. If a club came in with an offer, you suspect Cardiff will listen.
Mark Harris and Isaak Davies have proven themselves to be useful runners with good engines and decent pace. They will be hoping to up their goal tally this season, but neither of them have really done enough to ensure themselves a nailed-down starting spot. While Max Watters, who did well at MK Dons last season, just feels like he has more in him. But do you want to rely on him as the player to get you 15-plus goals in a Championship season? At this stage, unlikely, but he might grow into that player at some stage.
Cardiff need goals. It's an expensive commodity but a necessary one, too. They've not used up any of their loan quota, which is par for the course as those deals tend to get sorted out later in the window anyway, and there is a hope that one, potentially two, quality top-flight fringe strikers might be brought in to add some much-needed firepower in the forward line.
Bring in a centre-back
Another key area of the transfer market which still needs addressing is at centre-back. Curtis Nelson and Mark McGuinness were patchy with injury and form respectively last year, while Sean Morrison is still on the treatment table. Aden Flint and Ciaron Brown have gone, while Perry Ng was superb in a back three, but looked less assured as a centre-half in a back four.
It all points towards another centre-back being on the transfer wish list at Cardiff and hopefully they can get a deal for one over the line in the coming days or even weeks.
It's an area of the squad in which they have looked at recruiting for some time now and a number of enquiries have been made. It is another position in which they are potentially looking to add through the loan market.
As things stand, a back three of Nelson, McGuinness and Ng are the only options. It would be difficult to leave Ng out after his season last year, but he might be the fall guy if City go to a back four. His major plus-point, though, is his ability on the ball and Cardiff are keen to expand their attacking play next term, starting from the back.
A more imposing, ball-playing centre-half might just bolster what is a thin-looking stable right now and is something the club are looking at.
Decide the goalkeeping conundrum
It's been well-documented just how stockpiled the goalkeeper roster is at the minute, but it's something which will need to be addressed before the season begins.
One suspects all three of the senior goalkeepers - Ryan Allsop, Jak Alnwick and Dillon Phillips - will have time to impress during pre-season, while Rohan Luthra has been training with new keeper coach Graham Stack up in Scotland.
Stack admitted that, come the season, there will be some "disappointed players", because only one of the four can have the shirt. Early indications seem to suggest that Allsop is the man leading the race but Stack will run the rule over them in the coming days and weeks.
"They drive each other," Stack said. "Pushing each other in training and they've been very supportive. I've been blown away at the minute by their attitude to training. They've been a joy to work with.
"The beauty of the goalkeeping department at the moment and the goalies that we've got is that I honestly believe that they believe anyone is capable of playing.
"They will know that there will be one come the weekend or come the Tuesday night but I like to think that the good characters they are, they'll support the one who's playing and they'll continue to work hard and try and force their way into the team.
"We've created competition within a small group, but it's going to be healthy competition. As I say, between us we seem to be getting on really well together. But when the team has to be selected, there's going to have to be some disappointed players. That's something they'll have to deal with and show some character to get over."
Might one head out on loan somewhere once the final decision has been made? That's perhaps a consideration for the player and the club to make in the coming weeks.
Answer the creativity question
Another area Cardiff might be looking at is some creativity through the middle. Their central options are Joe Ralls, Ebou Adams, Ryan Wintle and Andy Rinomhota, all of whom will be sticking their hand up for selection, but where is the creativity coming from?
Rubin Colwill is the sole creative spark in the squad, but whether he kicks on this season remains to be seen. Ollie Tanner will certainly be a creative force out wide, but it would be unwise to rely too heavily on someone making such a huge step up in the football pyramid.
Cardiff brought in Tommy Doyle last season and he drove attacks from the middle of the park. Another player capable of doing that must surely be in the thinking in recruitment meetings at the minute.
Is Colwill the answer? Do the four central midfielders have enough go-forward in them to architect chances in the final third regularly? Or will a different answer be found in the transfer market? One to keep an eye on, perhaps.
Hone in on playing style
This will be a very interesting aspect of pre-season games. How will Cardiff set up? What formation will they play? Are they going to nail down the 4-2-3-1 they experimented with at the back end of last season? Are they going to stick with a back three and wing-backs? That seems unlikely given they have signed two wingers and view Colwill, Davies and Harris as capable of playing out there, too.
And will Cardiff look to evolve their playing style further? Morison certainly tried when he came in and realised he didn't have the personnel in place to do that, so had to revert to horses-for-courses type of football to get them out of the mire, which was successful, in all fairness.
There was more of an emphasis on a different playing style when the experimental stuff came out at the back end of last season. With a full pre-season under their belts, and a new-look squad packed with players who have been scouted to fit a vision the staff have in place, it's surely the best time for Cardiff to change that playing style for the better heading into the new season.
It's not all going to click at once, but the longer City have to get to grips with what is asked of them in the coming season the more likely it will be successful. It's going to be interesting to see how they go about it.
And fans... patience will be needed
An extension on the former point, really.
There has been a lot of change in recent months, more in a short space of time than the club has seen for a number of years, and it is highly improbable everything will fall perfectly into alignment straight away.
Players and playing patterns will have changed drastically this pre-season compared to others which have come before it and the games leading up to the season will grant Morison and his staff the best opportunity to tweak styles and gain better-informed opinions on players.
A loss or a bore-draw against teams lower than them in the football pyramid is a distinct possibility when so much change has preceded it. It might even carry on into the season, too, but it must be recognised that these changes are for the betterment of the club in the long term. Although another season like last year is unacceptable, too, that much is clear.
But having a playing style which is more fit for purpose and in-keeping with the development of the modern game is a must. So, too, is a recruitment structure which brings in players to fit a system and style of play rather than a manager's individual want. And implementing a lower wage bill means new players might be more obscure or from far-flung leagues and may need a little longer to adapt.
It's going to take a collective effort, but the moves have largely been positive and if results are not seen imminently it is not the end of days. There is a far bigger picture to it all and patience will be needed if that vision is to become a reality.
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