Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

£30-35m sounds a lot for a defender that has not been good at the top level yet. Kilman went for £40m, but he had played well.

Don't forget THB is an England international. 

[Chez]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Don't forget THB is an England international. 

A single cap gained almost by default isn't going to push the needle massively, but perhaps other clibs will see his potential. Plus I think the club will want keep him, so he won't be allowed to leave cheaply.

[CB Fry]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Don't forget THB is an England international. 

OK, fair enough let's shake hands on £50m now

[Wade Garrett]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Don't forget THB is an England international. 

So were Geoff Thomas and Carlton Palmer.

[Barsiem]

24 minutes ago, Chez said:

A single cap gained almost by default isn't going to push the needle massively, but perhaps other clibs will see his potential. Plus I think the club will want keep him, so he won't be allowed to leave cheaply.

How about the fact that he has a greater goals to games ratio for England than Harry Kane?

[The Realist]

I would be disappointed if Downes left.  Was excellent in the Championship.  We really missed him every time he was missing from the team as we had a record of something like 2 wins from 9 games he missed.  He has had a poor season in the Prem but picked up recently.  I think with the right manager, he would dominate this league again.

[hypochondriac]

23 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

OK, fair enough let's shake hands on £50m now

My point is he will clearly go for more money due to being English and having a cap than not. Has clear potential. 

[hypochondriac]

10 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

So were Geoff Thomas and Carlton Palmer.

It's not indicative of his quality as a footballer but it will affect his market value. 

[Wade Garrett]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

It's not indicative of his quality as a footballer but it will affect his market value. 

No it won’t.  Just because Carsley gave his mate a cap it doesn’t make him a better player or increase his value.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

No it won’t.  Just because Carsley gave his mate a cap it doesn’t make him a better player or increase his value.

I disagree. Clearly an international cap makes a difference to value. It highlights the potential he has and he's still a young player. I would expect 30 million for him. 

[Lighthouse]

I’m not sure why we’d accept less than £30m for THB, which is what we got for JWP, who was on the fringes of the England squad and a few years older. As it happens I’m not convinced anyone will pay that this summer and think there’s a reasonable chance he might stay, likewise Dibling.

[CSA96]

I think he might end up still being here when the season starts too. I suspect you probably could reach the £30m figure for THB, however I simply struggle to see which club is going to have Taylor Harwood-Bellis sufficiently high enough up their list of targets to go and do a deal as a priority. He's going to be a fringe player/nice to have rather than a must for anybody looking to add depth to their defence and they'll have other players in other positions that they need to go and spend their budget on first

[BERMUDASAINT]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-many-points-leicester-city-10201562

 

[skintsaint]

11 minutes ago, BERMUDASAINT said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-many-points-leicester-city-10201562

 

Decent points hit and Martin as manager...enjoy.

[Teamsaint1]

2 hours ago, The Realist said:

I would be disappointed if Downes left.  Was excellent in the Championship.  We really missed him every time he was missing from the team as we had a record of something like 2 wins from 9 games he missed.  He has had a poor season in the Prem but picked up recently.  I think with the right manager, he would dominate this league again.

I agree We should fight tooth and nail to keep him, which we are going to have to with any of our better players. He'll be pretty much the best CM in the Championship, and we will be very lucky to get anything like his quality for much short of £10m I should think. And we really don't want him going to a rival club either.I wouldn't be surprised if some lower end PL clubs come in for him.

The new manager needs to get him onside as a top priority.

[Pamplemousse]

THB was utterly horrendous on Sunday. Not just defensively, whenever he had the ball, every pass was either backwards, sideways, or he would slow it down instead of getting it up the field further. We looked far better when he went off injured.

I wouldn't be too bothered if he left. 

[suewhistle]

48 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

THB was utterly horrendous on Sunday.

So not playing for a move then?

I wonder if that will help some players' performances on Sunday? I know, I'm grasping at straws.

In other musings I see Pep has been complaining about having too large a squad to work with and not even being able to include them all in a match day squad and having to leave some back in Manchester.. They'd be too expensive for us but any potential loans?

[Wade Garrett]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I disagree. Clearly an international cap makes a difference to value. It highlights the potential he has and he's still a young player. I would expect 30 million for him. 

I think you’ll be disappointed.

[Farmer Saint]

58 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

THB was utterly horrendous on Sunday. Not just defensively, whenever he had the ball, every pass was either backwards, sideways, or he would slow it down instead of getting it up the field further. We looked far better when he went off injured.

I wouldn't be too bothered if he left. 

As continuously said, like Downes, THB is a system player. He is best in a possession based side, and is not a very good defender. He is fine at passing the ball around but that's about it. There was a very good reason Kompany did not purchase him when Burnley got promoted, even though he was young and had an excellent season.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Leicester could’ve done with a manager like Steve Cooper. Someone that can operate on a tight budget and knows how to get teams out of the Championship.

Haha! 😂

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I think you’ll be disappointed.

We will see. 

[Oldandtired]

4 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I’m not sure why we’d accept less than £30m for THB, which is what we got for JWP, who was on the fringes of the England squad and a few years older. As it happens I’m not convinced anyone will pay that this summer and think there’s a reasonable chance he might stay, likewise Dibling.

I think the difference there is that there is a vast gulf in quality between the present THB and the then JWP. THB has not performed at all well for a while now so imo we would struggle to get anywhere near that figure for him.

Edited May 21 by Oldandtired

[Chez]

11 minutes ago, Oldandtired said:

I think the difference there is that there is a vast difference in quality between the present THB and the then JWP. THB has not performed at all well for a while now so imo we would struggle to get anywhere near that figure for him.

You are putting it mildly. JWP had had a pretty good season in the PL before his move and after several seasons of playing pretty damn well at that level. THB has had one season in the PL and wasn't impressive. JWP was tried and tested. If you buy THB you are buying potential.

[Dusic]

Good point on the Manager thread that strategically the less reliance on loan players this season means more ability to spend if we did go up.

Last summer we obviously spent a lot on Downes and THB just to stand still - will be interesting if we use domestic loans any less this time, especially given the European nature of the recruitment team Spors is building.

[Chez]

4 hours ago, The Realist said:

I would be disappointed if Downes left.  Was excellent in the Championship.  We really missed him every time he was missing from the team as we had a record of something like 2 wins from 9 games he missed.  He has had a poor season in the Prem but picked up recently.  I think with the right manager, he would dominate this league again.

I'm with you. He was such a critical player in the promotion season and that midfielder area is a weakness. Charles may have got praise from Wednesday fans, but he didn't actually play a holding midfield role and I am not sure he knows how to. We need to protect the back four far better. The new manager needs to get players like him onside and the team working as one.

[Chez]

15 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Good point on the Manager thread that strategically the less reliance on loan players this season means more ability to spend if we did go up.

Last summer we obviously spent a lot on Downes and THB just to stand still - will be interesting if we use domestic loans any less this time, especially given the European nature of the recruitment team Spors is building.

Interesting argument, but how does spending pretty much nothing on, for example, the Brooks loan mean we had less money to spend on getting promotion? Whatever money we saved on not buying him while in the championship was then available to spend last summer. Which we did, on Fernandes and others.

Loans allow you to get borderline PL players in your squad without having to buy them, which is great, but then with the flexibility at the end of the loan to send them back or try and sign them permanently. Also great. If the alternative is spending, say £15-20m on a player while in the championship, then on promotion (hopefully), you won't have that £15-20m used the previous summer in the bank to spend.

In the end, promotion is what matters and if that means loaning five players in this summer, that's fine with me. Let's worry about strengthening a promoted side to deal with the PL having actually got promoted. That doesn't mean we shouldn't sign a player on a permanent this summer, but if we do, they had better players that we are confident can make the leap.

 

[bangkoksaint]

3 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

As continuously said, like Downes, THB is a system player. He is best in a possession based side, and is not a very good defender. He is fine at passing the ball around but that's about it. There was a very good reason Kompany did not purchase him when Burnley got promoted, even though he was young and had an excellent season.

That alone should have rung alarm bells for us when we were in a similar position. Probably why VK is at BM and RM is unemployed 

[Farmer Saint]

3 hours ago, Dusic said:

Good point on the Manager thread that strategically the less reliance on loan players this season means more ability to spend if we did go up.

Last summer we obviously spent a lot on Downes and THB just to stand still - will be interesting if we use domestic loans any less this time, especially given the European nature of the recruitment team Spors is building.

It wasn't even to stand still as we lost Armstrong and Che...we spent £40m to go backwards.

[Farmer Saint]

7 hours ago, The Realist said:

I would be disappointed if Downes left.  Was excellent in the Championship.  We really missed him every time he was missing from the team as we had a record of something like 2 wins from 9 games he missed.  He has had a poor season in the Prem but picked up recently.  I think with the right manager, he would dominate this league again.

Has only ever played well under one Manager...I'll give you 3 guesses. 

In all seriousness though, he is a recycler and so that means he's only effective in high possession teams.

[OneMrsWallace]

Coufal. Bags of experience and think he's available on a free? Might not want to drop down of course. 

[Lighthouse]

5 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

I think you’ll be disappointed.

But why would we sell? What’s our motivation to only break even on a player who just signed a year ago and has since added a year of PL football and an England cap to his CV?

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

But why would we sell? What’s our motivation to only break even on a player who just signed a year ago and has since added a year of PL football and an England cap to his CV?

You make a good point.  The assumption is we’ll take the money for any player.

 

[Harry_SFC]

5 hours ago, Oldandtired said:

I think the difference there is that there is a vast gulf in quality between the present THB and the then JWP. THB has not performed at all well for a while now so imo we would struggle to get anywhere near that figure for him.

I think we'd probably accept £25m if someone like West Ham came in for him. As for Dibling, I'd imagine (and hope) the club will actively be looking to cash in now because if he's set on not singing a new contract, we can't afford to lose him on the cheap/on a free. 

[Saint86]

22 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I’m not sure why we’d accept less than £30m for THB, which is what we got for JWP, who was on the fringes of the England squad and a few years older. As it happens I’m not convinced anyone will pay that this summer and think there’s a reasonable chance he might stay, likewise Dibling.

Do you think the club will let Dibling go into the last year of his contract? I think its far more likely that we're posturing re the £100M figure we keep bandying about, when deep down the club know we will do a deal at any figure over circa £40-50M for him because we will be forced to sell him next summer for even less. The reality is that with two years left on his contract, this is the last chance we'll get to really maximise his value, and we badly need that money to build for the long term future - a player that won't sign a new contract and that we will be forced to sell next summer regardless is sadly not part of any long term future.

That or we finally stop disrespecting our best kids and actually give him a fair wedge. But we've been consistently reluctant to do that under SR. AGR being a pristine fuck up having gone to Lyon for relatively sod all compensation (£150K) as well.

Edited May 22 by Saint86

[saintant]

30 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Do you think the club will let Dibling go into the last year of his contract? I think its far more likely that we're posturing re the £100M figure we keep bandying about, when deep down the club know we will do a deal at any figure over circa £40-50M for him because we will be forced to sell him next summer for even less. The reality is that with two years left on his contract, this is the last chance we'll get to really maximise his value, and we badly need that money to build for the long term future - a player that won't sign a new contract and that we will be forced to sell next summer regardless is sadly not part of any long term future.

That or we finally stop disrespecting our best kids and actually give him a fair wedge. But we've been consistently reluctant to do that under SR. AGR being a pristine fuck up having gone to Lyon for relatively sod all compensation (£150K) as well.

Nobody is paying 40-50 million for Dibling.

[Chez]

48 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Do you think the club will let Dibling go into the last year of his contract? I think its far more likely that we're posturing re the £100M figure we keep bandying about, when deep down the club know we will do a deal at any figure over circa £40-50M for him because we will be forced to sell him next summer for even less. The reality is that with two years left on his contract, this is the last chance we'll get to really maximise his value, and we badly need that money to build for the long term future - a player that won't sign a new contract and that we will be forced to sell next summer regardless is sadly not part of any long term future.

That or we finally stop disrespecting our best kids and actually give him a fair wedge. But we've been consistently reluctant to do that under SR. AGR being a pristine fuck up having gone to Lyon for relatively sod all compensation (£150K) as well.

Yep. I am guessing he's not signed a new contract because we haven't offered him what his agent has requested rather than him wanting to leave. That might have been a ridiculous sum (at the time he was flying high), who knows, but now we are in the championship we can't really offer him mega money and so getting a deal done is going to be even harder.

That said, I don't think its a foregone conclusion that he departs this summer simply because the club is not going to let him go on the cheap. They do need to balance the books, but I don't think they will accept a low Spurs-like bid. Not sure what that satisfactory amount would be. Pretty high I would guess. I'm glad they put that £100m figure out there, as it's a sign they rate him very very highly indeed. So, unless a PL side make a serious offer he will be here next season.

[Chez]

27 minutes ago, saintant said:

Nobody is paying 40-50 million for Dibling.

That figure sounded right when he was running rings around Brighton at their place, but he's done so little in the second half of the season, it now looks almost silly. That said, he clearly is very talented, so you wouldn't want to sell him cheaply knowing what he can do at his best. I am not sure why he dropped off. Partly him, partly the team?

[sambosa75]

58 minutes ago, saintant said:

Nobody is paying 40-50 million for Dibling.

We'll be lucky to get £20m for him.  He's not as good as people seem to think.  Admittedly been far too overplayed this season but he's got a long, long way to go.  

[Saint NL]

Mad numbers being thrown around for Delap. 

[sledger]

On 20/05/2025 at 23:14, hypochondriac said:

Don't forget THB is an England international. 

THB will never get another england cap,poor defender,weak in the air,paceless and completely over rated.

[Oisin]

I thought we had a 1 year extension option on Dibling so he won’t be leaving next summer on a free. Added to which at his age it wouldn’t be free anyway.

I don’t see Dibling leaving if I’m honest. 3 months ago I’d have expected some serious money to be offered but his form and confidence fell off a cliff. Good news for us IMHO because the talent is still there in spades.

The only players I see being in demand for big (enough) money are Ramsdale and Fernandes. Downes and THB etc won’t command a fee worth us selling at. We’ll lose plenty of others for loose change I suspect but only those two for a sizeable wad.

[gio1saints]

Regarding Tyler : If I was him i don’t care what the fee is if it’s £150k pw I’m in. He will want the fee low as possible to facilitate the wages and longer contract. He’ll earn in one year what takes must of us a lifetime. Icing on the cake it’s a challenging for honours club but I think it’s probably a step too far in that situation. He’s more an ambitious mid table club in EPL or an Aston Villa than an Arsenal or Man City imo. Most likely would be a Spurs or Man Utd actually. He could be the new Cantona. 

[Chez]

48 minutes ago, Oisin said:

I thought we had a 1 year extension option on Dibling so he won’t be leaving next summer on a free. Added to which at his age it wouldn’t be free anyway.

I don’t see Dibling leaving if I’m honest. 3 months ago I’d have expected some serious money to be offered but his form and confidence fell off a cliff. Good news for us IMHO because the talent is still there in spades.

The only players I see being in demand for big (enough) money are Ramsdale and Fernandes. Downes and THB etc won’t command a fee worth us selling at. We’ll lose plenty of others for loose change I suspect but only those two for a sizeable wad.

Yes, he's contracted until 2026, but the club can extend it a further 12 months.

If clubs have only seen him in the second half of the season they wouldn't be interested, but most will have watched him for several years and know he is a prodigious talent that has now shown he can do it at this top level. The club will receive plenty of enquiries this summer, but all low ball bids will be batted away. If someone wants him, they will have to pay through the nose even if he did fail to impress in the second half of the season.  

[Chez]

Saints are mentioned as 'another club with an interest' in an article about Hearts' James Penrice possibly going to WBA in the summer. He's a left back that won their POTS. Hard to see us signing players in a lot of positions until we have some departures. We wont be adding to Wellington, Manning, Taylor and Larios unless a few leave.

[Willo of Whiteley]

I’d be pretty confident in Taylor leaving, that said I think he’d be an effective left-sided CB. He’s not had a great experience with the club.

[Gingeletiss]

6 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’d be pretty confident in Taylor leaving, that said I think he’d be an effective left-sided CB. He’s not had a great experience with the club.

No, no, and no. Not good enough for the PL so not good enough for a team we would like to see promoted to the PL. If  they do not have a potential for this, then they need to be shifted.

[Saint Fan CaM]

I don’t think loans from Man City would be a thing given that they play high possession tactics which Still will not be employing going forwards. More likely to go to Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa or Newcastle - that level.

[coalman]

Please god can we sign a striker this summer. One that scores goals instead of a £20 million last minute panic buy or someone that immediately takes up a bed in the treatment room.

Edited May 22 by coalman

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

Please god can we sign a striker this summer. One that scores goals instead of a £20 million last minute panic buy or someone that immediately takes up a bed in the treatment room.

Armstrong, Brereton-Díaz, Stewart and Archer have all had prolific spells in the Championship. I think Onuachu would as well.

[Weston Super Saint]

25 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Armstrong, Brereton-Díaz, Stewart and Archer have all had prolific spells in the Championship. I think Onuachu would as well.

Not with us.