Key events2h agoPreambleSeven players we’re excited to watch in the Championship this seasonLorent Tolaj (Bristol City)This will be a fourth successive season of progression for Tolaj. He played in the National League in 2023-24 for Aldershot (scoring 19 goals), moved to League Two with Port Vale during 2024-25 (when he scored 14 goals), then jumped up to League One last season, scoring 18 goals – one for Port Vale and 17 for Plymouth. Now he’s going to test himself in the Championship after a £4m move to Bristol City.Not only did Tolaj finish last season as the fourth top scorer in League One, he also made eight assists (a tally only beaten by six players). Only Dom Ballard (27) was involved in more goals than Tolaj (26) in the third tier; they will be teammates this season after Ballard joined Bristol City from Leyton Orient.Being a high-volume shooter helped his goal tally, with Tolaj’s 113 shots more than any other player in League One last season. He averaged 3.7 shots per 90 minutes – a figure that only Aaron Connolly bettered.For the rest, check out the latest from the Opta Analyst here:Has anyone had a better summer than Djed Spence? He’s gone from having his jaw broken in May to becoming one of England’s cult heroes during the World Cup and now he’s swapping being Pedro Porro’s stand-in to signing for Inter Milan. There’s a few videos of Spence waving to cameras as he goes through his Italian medical tests knocking about on social media and he looks pretty pleased. I’m happy for him.In the red half of Manchester (which is currently in County Kildare), Michael Carrick has ruled out Manchester United making a £100m signing this summer due to their finances. Asked how United can compete, Carrick said: “Money’s money. I get that. It’s still about football and that’s where the competition lies. What we feel naturally as a group is to try and win games. So there’s a lot that goes into that, but certainly the situation is what it is as well, whether that’s finances or whatever.”Despite the forward and club preferring him to depart, Carrick was also effusive about Marcus Rashford: “He’s our player and has trained really well. It’s been good to have him around the group again.“He’s a very good player, Marcus, and if you’re going to have a career over 10 or 15 years, there’s going to be times when things go in a direction and maybe a different direction. All right, that happens. There’s ups and downs, and that doesn’t judge you as a one-off kind of [state]. It’s what happens over time, and now we’re in a positive place as a group, and Marcus can offer us so much. He has done, and he can do again, so it’s quite exciting.”More from the transfer market, the bods at Chelsea are hitting refresh on their inboxes after setting a deadline of 5pm today for Manchester City to make a bid for Enzo Fernandez. The Argentina international is being lined up as a replacement for Rodri, who has been the subject of an initial €45m bid from Barcelona. Strikes me as an expensive way to downgrade your midfield from Enzo Maresca, but he did see the best of Fernandez when he was Chelsea.Galatasaray wanted Gabriel Martinelli. In the following 24 hours things changed a bit, creating greater complexity, something we do not approve of. Arsenal have supposedly been offered the chance to involve the Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen in exchange for the Brazilian, which could be temptong for a side looking for a new No 9. To further sweeten any potential, Ethan Nwaneri could be chucked into it too to make it a mega swap.Get this kind of tittle-tattle and more fluff in today’s Rumour Mill:Got a minute to spare? Why not try our daily Premier League trivia game, On the ball? Every day a star player past or present is hidden behind nine clues. How many will you need to identify them? It’s available in the Guardian appsQuick GuidePlay our football trivia game, On the ballShowThe Guardian's daily football game, On the ball, is now live in the app for both iOS and Android. Can you identify the Premier League star from the clues? Ben FisherTrippier: ‘The Championship is relentless … it’s totally different to the Premier League’Kieran Trippier has played under some of the biggest names in football and won La Liga at Atlético Madrid. Photograph: Brett Patzke/WWFC/Wolves/Getty Images“I’m not going to sit here and lie, I wasn’t expecting it,” Kieran Trippier says. “But it’s the club’s decision. I had good chats with Rob, of course, but I’m here to play for Wolves. There are many surprises in football and that certainly was a surprise, I’m not going to deny that. But I just cracked on, I was with my kids on holiday, training in Mallorca and just looking forward to day one in pre-season.”Read Ben Fisher’s full interview with the former England international:Matt HughesFirst up, big news in the murky world of football politics from Matt Hughes this morning:Oceania declares support for Infantino in boost for Fifa president but New Zealand breaks ranksFifa president Gianni Infantino at the Women’s World Cup draw ahead of the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Photograph: Shane Wenzlick/ReutersThe Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has declared their support for Gianni Infantino following demands for the Fifa president to resign from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation in a development that further highlights world football’s civil war.After a meeting of its executive committee in Fiji on Wednesday, the OFC issued a statement on Friday praising “the progress achieved over the last decade” by Fifa in its first public comments since the abandoned World Cup sell-off plan emerged this month.In another sign of division however, the OFC’s biggest member and only nation to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, New Zealand, broke ranks with the confederation by withdrawing their backing for Infantino and calling for an independent review of the Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, which has been demanded by the three rebel groups.Full story:PreambleI’m not sure I’m ready for this, are you ready for this? Surely it’s too hot for the EFL to be back. Can we push it until after another Test series or some more balmy nights of athletics?Ready or not, tonight Wolves striker Raúl Jiménez will likely be jeered by the travelling Blackburn Rovers support for daring to be on the field as Mexico lost to England at the Azteca, shirts will be removed and we will be one game closer to finding out if César Peixoto can cut it ‘over here’. The only green grass in the country right now can be found at football stadiums, so it will be nice to see that at least.With the Championship leading the EFL’s return this evening, several strings loose in transfer tapestry to be tidied up and the ongoing shenanigans at Fifa, it is not quiet in football land. I’ll be across the latest news this morning, but I’m also keen to hear your thoughts on all things football, drop me a line via the email link at the top of the page.