It has been pretty quiet around the Kassam Stadium in the last few weeks with little transfer activity to talk about since the released and retained lists were announced.

However not all those who were offered new contracts at Oxford have taken up the new deal, with Asa Hall opting to move to Shrewsbury for the chance to play League One football in the new season. Nobody can blame Hall for choosing the Shrews over United and every fan would want to wish him all the best for the future.

Goalkeeper Wayne Brown signed his deal weeks ago so the only question mark remaining is now over Adam Chapman, who has yet to agree his deal. Rumours will of course start to surface with other club expressing interest in the play-making midfielder, and the thought of Chapman leaving would be a huge blow to our promotion plans for the upcoming campaign. It would be especially disappointing if Chapman did turn down our deal for another club after the support we gave while he spent 18 months in a young offenders institute.

However the biggest story of the summer looks set to be the James Constable saga reopening again with Bristol Rovers already having one offer rejected. They have since put in another bid thought to be in the region of £200,000 which has already been rejected. The yellows passed on a similar offer from Swindon Town last January however it may be time to cash in on ‘Beano’ after a stuttering end to the season and a section of the fans voicing their concern in the stands. Despite this, Constable has been a great servant to the club and his goal tally is in Oxford’s all-time top ten list, which shows just what kind of impact he’s made since arriving here. It would be quite a struggle to find a club willing to let someone of the same calibre leave for a decent price.

One player to come in since the end of the season is the attack-minded Sean Rigg from Port Vale. Rigg comes into the winger/forward role and should fit into either of the main formations Chris Wilder tends to use. A big plus for United has been the recovery of Alfie Potter after six months out with an ankle injury. Potter could be key to a successful promotion push, and had he been fit for the whole of last season we maybe could have seen a better outcome to the final standings.

United have announced another pre-season tour of America followed by home games against the two Championship playoff finalists West Ham United and Cardiff City. It will be great to see the newly promoted Hammers, as well as being some of the first fans to witness Cardiff’ City in their  controversial change of home kit.

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