Ireland's top two performers at the Euros were St Kevin's Boys' duo Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick, and with both now plying their trade with Championship clubs, the rumour mill has not spent long cranking into gear. Brady looks set to leave Norwich for champions (I know, it's still weird to say) Leicester City, while Hendrick has been linked with a host of potential suitors.
The most interesting of these clubs is Galatasaray in Turkey, along with Premier League clubs Crystal Palace and Hull City. Hendrick found it oddly difficult to break into the Derby team last season, but new Derby boss Nigel Pearson - an odd choice, given a ram has nowhere near the dexterity of an ostrich - is adamant Hendrick is going nowhere.
The Derby Telegraph quoted Pearson this afternoon, with the new manager admitting that while speculation surrounding Derby's best players is inevitable, he will do his best to keep hold of him:
Firstly, we will do whatever we can to keep hold of our best players.
They are assets, and if you lose your assets you lose them on your own terms.
I have got no intention of really entering into any sort of debate regarding how things have been reported. You won't hear me getting involved in those sort of debate.
Pearson was asked if these assets included Hendrick and Will Hughes, responding "absolutely". Pearson went on to praise Hendrick's performances at the Euros, commenting that "Yes, he has, and rightly so [been subject of transfer speculation]. He performed very, very well".
He sadly neglected to mention Cyrus Christie and Richard Keogh.
