It will, old Ferret thinks, be a fascinating few weeks.
Because suddenly the world is awash with 5ft 10in-type strikers – all of whom are itching to get away and make rather more of their goal-grabbing talents.
And just as there is a clutch of boys looking to cash their lower league chips in this summer, so there are also a clutch of clubs looking to bag themselves a new, good little 'un before the summer is out.
For some, they need to get one in before the other one bales out – that's why Charlton grabbed Varney ASAP before Bent disappears; why the Baggies are sniffing around our old friend Billy Sharp as Diomansy Kamara looks to pack his bags.
Now there's talk of Watford poking their noses into the Sharp deal – cos Aidy needs someone to replace Ashley Young.
Everyone's got a bit of cash to splash – some much more than others. But, basically, it's one big old bun-fight out there for similar type players.
That's why the Southend United board appeared to be busily back-tracking from their recent 'Freddie's going nowhere…' stuff; suddenly Mr Eastwood has got a price on his head – it's just that Wolves haven't met it. Yet.
They might if Sharpy goes elsewhere.
That's why our Jamie has thrown his hat into the ring. The lad knows – and deserves – one last, big contract and this is the summer to be out there throwing your name about.
So, on the one side of the room stand the clubs – Norwich, Wolves, West Brom and Watford to name but four; on the other side of the room stand the players – Sharp, Cureton, Jeffers and Eastwood to name but four.
In between, looking to lead everyone a merry dance lie, of course, the agents for whom Christmas always comes early whenever there's either a new foreign billionaire in town or there's a club desperate to flash their Premiership parachute payment cash around.
Which way the cookies all crumble will, I suspect, start to become clear in the next 48 hours by when Sharp is expected to make his decision known.
He jumps one way, then someone else will dive another.
It is interesting if only for the fact that, at the end of the day, there's plusses and minuses to all four of the boys in play at the moment – Sharp, Cureton and Eastwood round here and in the Midlands and Jeffers down the road.
And yet if any one of them were lining up in a City shirt come August 11, Ferret would take it; you'd sit there and think: 'Yeh, do a job…' – Jeffers would be the only one that would set the alarm bells ringing from the start.
Talk to a few people and right now you get the sense that it is all to play for; nothing is set in stone; nothing sorted; but once one goes, so the game of bluff will be over and it'll be a desperate feeding frenzy.
Who'll be the biggest winners? The 10 Per Cents. They'll be doing 15 to 20s before the summer is out.
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