Championship transfer news latest: Leeds/Gnonto, James Ward-Prowse update, Leicester hijack Ipswich move | OneFootball

With the transfer window well underway in the Championship, many deals both in terms of incomings and outgoings have been completed.

The window closes in a month's time, which is bound to only increase speculation and speculation and rumours over the future of players in the second tier, particularly those playing for the relegated sides who want a move back to the top-flight.

Pre-season is being wrapped up for most second tier teams, with many managers now looking to form their squads ahead of the opening weekend.

Excitement is at breaking point ahead of the new season, with Southampton's opening game against Sheffield Wednesday kicking off the new campaign in just a matter of days, on Friday 4th August.

With all three newly-promoted sides surviving in the Premier League, it was Southampton, Leeds United, and Leicester City who suffered the drop into the second tier. Adding three clubs with plenty of talented players that are already the subject of much speculation and not likely to be playing Championship football next season.

The quality of the division is expected to be more competitive than ever, with a host of clubs in the hunt for top-flight football by the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Hull City & Derby County swap deal?

Hull's interest in the Max Bird first emerged yesterday, with HullLive exclusively reporting that the Tigers had submitted a transfer bid for the midfielder, hoping to bring the 22-year-old to the MKM Stadium.

However, just a couple of hours later, DerbyshireLive reported that the Rams had rejected Hull City's opening bid for Bird. They reiterated that Derby do not need to sell this summer, having already acquired decent fees from the sales of Krystian Bielik to Birmingham City and Jason Knight to Bristol City.

Since then, it has been revealed that Hull could include out-of-favour midfielder Ryan Woods as part of the deal, according to Sunday Mirror Sports News Editor Darren Witcoop.

Declan Rice's £105 million move to Arsenal has seen David Moyes and West Ham look at replacing the midfielder. They have yet to source a replacement despite having over £100 million to spend.

As a result, West Ham have registered their interest in Southampton icon James Ward-Prowse in a bid to replace Rice, and their interest in the 28-year-old has been well-documented throughout the last month.

A report from talkSPORT suggests that, despite earlier claims throughout the day from Sky Sports suggesting a deal taking Ward-Prowse from Southampton to West Ham was dead in the water, the Irons have come back and submitted a 'take it or leave it offer' for the St. Mary's skipper for a fee of around £30million.

A fee of £15m was reportedly rejected from Everton earlier in the window but Football Insider claimed last week that the Toffees were still leading the race to sign Gnonto.

However, according to Fabrizio Romano, Leeds face an easier battle than first thought in their bid to keep the Italian attacker. Inter Milan, Everton and more have been linked with his services throughout the transfer window, though it appears that the West Yorkshire outfit haven't fielded any fresh bids for the 19-year-old just yet, with the Toffees focusing on other targets.

Romano said: “Everton like Gnonto but they’re focused on different players now. I’m sure Leeds are trying their best to keep Gnonto, they want him to stay and to be one of their stars next season. It will depend on the strikers domino in the Premier League but at the moment it’s a bit quiet on this one.”

Leicester City hijack Ipswich Town's Jesurun Rak-Sakyi move

Ipswich have been linked with a move for Rak-Sakyi throughout the summer and journalist Alan Nixon claimed recently that they were holding out to see whether he became available by Crystal Palace.

However, a new report has emerged from Mike McGrath of The Telegraph, who has reported that the Foxes are in talks with Palace over a deal that would see the England U20 international spend the 2023/24 season on loan at the King Power Stadium.