It’s thought that those sides who achieve promotion through the playoffs are always at a disadvantage due to the time delay. However, Premiership new boys Swansea have wasted absolutely no time in making their first signature, after the Swans agreed a fee with Watford for the transfer of striker Danny Graham.

Graham has been the subject of plenty of transfer speculation, which should not come as any surprise considering the fact that the former Middlesbrough striker has just finished as the Championship’s top goal scorer after notching twenty four goals.

However, after QPR had a bid of £2.5m rejected a couple of weeks ago, there was the belief that Watford had no intention of selling. Brendan Rodgers has thought differently however and after tabling a bid of £3.5m, the Hornets have reluctantly accepted and it now looks as though Graham will be making the move over to Wales.

Rodgers is of course no stranger to Graham, after he managed the 25-year-old at Watford during his time there. However, not even he could have envisaged Graham’s success, after it was only a couple of years ago that the striker left Carlisle.

Since his move Graham has been one of the most lethal strikers in the Championship and after bagging forty two goals in the two seasons, it would be fair to say that he has earned his move to the top flight.

Despite the bid, Swansea remain coy over the subject and have stressed that the transfer has not yet gone through. A statement on their official website read “No discussions regarding personal terms have taken place yet with Graham who worked under Swans boss Brendan Rodgers at Watford.”

However, with Graham saying in recent weeks that he would be unable to resist a move to the top flight, it appears the transfer is a foregone conclusion.

The Championship playoff final was said to be worth £90m and with that, it could be said that finalists Reading lost out big time when they lost 4-2 to Swansea a couple of weeks ago. However, it now looks as though that defeat could have even more of an impact on the club, with manager Brian McDermott revealing that it might prove impossible to keep hold of star striker Shane Long.

Since signing in 2005, Long has made a massive impact at the Madejski Stadium having bagged fifty four goals. However, this season has been particularly successful for the former Cork City man, after he bagged twenty eight as Reading went on to finish the campaign in 5^th.

With that, there has of course been plenty of transfer successful. Transfer fees in the region of £5m have been branded about, while the likes of Celtic, Everton and Newcastle have all been linked with the 24-year-old.

Unfortunately for Reading, their failure to net promotion means that the chances of Long starting the season as a Royal have diminished drastically. Manager Brian McDermott seems to realize this and speaking to BBC Berkshire, he said: “If a Premier League club comes in and we decide the deal is right and Shane wants to go there’s nothing we can do.

“It’s important I do the right thing by him as well. For me he’ll go down as a very special Reading player. ”

If Long does make the top flight move, he would join a host of other players who have made the step up to the Premier League this summer. Out of the top seven Championship goal scorers incredibly only one of them appears to be remaining in the division next season. Grant Holt, Scott Sinclair and Adel Taarabt have all been promoted with their respective clubs, while Jay Bothroyd is set to leave Cardiff in a few weeks once his contract expires. With Danny Graham also on the verge of a big money transfer to newly-promoted Norwich, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if the list becomes Long-er, pardon the pun.

After clinching promotion just a few weeks ago, Norwich manager Paul Lambert has certainly been busy in preparing his squad for the upcoming Premiership campaign. The former Colchester boss has moved a step further to strengthening again this afternoon, after a bid for Millwall striker Steve Morrison was accepted.

Even though there is the small matter of personal terms that need to be agreed, Morison has already expressed his desire to join Norwich after he handed in a transfer request at Millwall following early interest from the Canaries. With that, it looks all but a foregone conclusion that the 27-year-old will be plying his trade in the top division in the next campaign.

For Morison, the move would be nothing short of remarkable considering the fact that he was only playing non-league football two years ago. Following a hugely successful spell at Stevenage, Kenny Jackett stepped in and signed him up for a cut price £130k and he hasn’t looked back since. In his first season, he managed an impressive twenty three goals to help Millwall clinch promotion, while his debut season in the Championship was also successful as he bagged seventeen.

Speaking to Norwich’s official website, manager Paul Lambert revealed his delight at signing Morison: “We’re going to need to be as strong as we can in every department.

“Steve is a natural goalscorer who will significantly add to what is already a very competitive striking department. That is what we will need in the Premier League.”

There was doubt that the deal would go through after two original offers for the former Stevenage man were rejected by Millwall. With Paul Lambert also signing a striker in James Vaughan from Everton last week, hopes of the Morison deal concluding appeared to be fading. However, Lambert has eventually got his man as he prepares for his first management spell in England’s top division.

They were only relegated a few days ago, but Blackpool have already made steps to prepare for next season in the Championship. The biggest of those appears to be in relation to Charlie Adam, with the Bloomfield Road outfit activating a clause which allows them to extend his contract by a further twelve months.

The former Rangers man has been a revelation since joining the club in 2009 and after scoring nineteen goals to help Blackpool achieve promotion to the Premiership, the 25-year-old has enjoyed yet another superb campaign. Having scored a further thirteen this season, it has been no surprise to see him catch the eye of other clubs and despite only joining the club a couple of years ago for £500k, Liverpool had a £6m bid rejected in January.

With that, it’s no surprise to see Blackpool quickly invoking this clause. However, he is unlikely to give up on the Premiership that easily and speaking to Sky Sports, he has revealed that his ambitions still lie there: “I just want to keep playing and obviously the Premier League was the top of the tree and obviously I want to play there”.

As well as Adam, the Seasiders have also activated the same clause in a number of other players’ contracts. Keith Southern, Neal Eardley, Ian Evatt, Billy Clarke, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Louis Almond are included in that list although with the greatest respect, it is highly unlikely that they will be courted anything like as much as Adam this summer.

However, it wasn’t quite as positive for some players after Ian Holloway opted to trim down his squad by releasing several. Paul Rachubka, Richard Kingson, Rob Edwards, Danny Coid, Malaury Martin, Marlon Harewood, Jason Euell, David Carney, Andy Reid, Salaheddine Sbai and Ishmel Demontagnac have all been told that their future now lies away from Bloomfield Road, hinting that Holloway has plenty of transfer activity ahead of him.