The traditional Walsall opener has come and gone as has a run-out with Hansa Rostock, and the same questions we’ve had for the last few weeks remain unanswered. Still plenty of links and speculation, but they’re sort of all over the map.

The performances? About what you’d expect with Emery resting many starters and giving a large swath of the youth ranks a chance to shine. Or make up the numbers. Or consign themselves to loans. One also might assume that given the various domino scenarios we’ve been reading about, players are maybe being held out for other reasons.

One veteran who has been out there is Jacob Ramsey, and he’s obviously been at the heart of a lot of speculation.

We keep hearing is that Villa need to make a big sale to make room for incomings. How true this is, well…It’s part of any ongoing team-building to begin with, and wages are certainly an issue. I’ve said Villa have been punching above their weight and I’m sure there are lots of permutations for getting in players who can help with that while maintaining adequate depth.

We keep hearing about Emi to United. Online, Chelsea are now throwing three players at us to prise Rogers away. Ramsey’s unhappy and Forest want him. Leon Baily talk has gone a little quiet in my non-social media news filter. Talk about Saudi wanting Youri has come back up. Saw Malen being touted as a make-weight. Garnacho keeps popping up now, and if the rumor mill is to be believed, a bid for Jackson would trigger a move for Rogers. So very tiring, especially when dealing with the Chelseas of the world.

Whatever the situation with any of these players, I’m still thinking Emery knows he asked a lot from the players last year, and an extra couple weeks’ rest is probably very welcome and beneficial. The preseason is backloaded, as usual, with the more challenging opponents, and the week or so in the US (if no one is seized and sent to a foreign hellhole) will be good conditioning given the high temperatures and humidity where they’ll be playing.

But if suppose one or two major sales are in the works, it only makes sense. Unable to stockpile without the built-in revenue advantages of the teams above us, it’s always going to be the case that we’re willing to part with someone while their value is high. Or as high as it’s ever going to get again.

Of all the players mentioned, I can’t see Villa letting Rogers go. I could see Youri going for the right price since it would be pure profit, but it would have to be a sizeable fee and he’s hard to replace. Everyone else? There are situations where almost any sale makes sense. Just comes down to simple tradeoffs: Replace for less than we’re selling and also lower the wages. You’d like to think we could pull this off given some other teams’ clever business over the years.

Maybe things start to move before Villa head off to the States, and it does feel like we’re waiting for a deal to go through before we commit to anything. But it also doesn’t seem like we’re pushing anyone out the door, either, except maybe Leon. That’s the first domino I’d like to see fall. Who knows what’s happening behind closed doors.

So, holding patterns and some frustration out there, I’m sure. But I don’t think there’s any reason to panic. The rules are keeping us from spending and there’s not much to be done about that.

Over to you.