Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Come on Saints time is ticking....

Stop the trying to be clever bollacks

Get the readies on the table we want.

Sainz and Sargent and the best performers in the Championship last season. 

Not some twonk in some Siberian league noone has heard of.... 🤣

Sainz will be in the prem. I'd have liked Sargent but we haven't been linked. 

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, saintant said:

Thought Adam Armstrong registered 24 goals that season?

As a striker? 

[coalman]

14 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

Adams was phenonemal for us last season and we never replaced him. We'd have scored a lot more goals and created a load more if he had stayed. He was a massive miss.

To be fair some of his link up play and assists were very good. But his finishing.... oh my. The no look handball deflection for the first is a thing of beauty. I've never seen another player with the ability to score absolute worldies and regularly miss absolute sitters.

Edited 10 hours ago by coalman

[saintant]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

As a striker? 

Yes, as a striker. A striker for me is a player who plays up front and scores regularly. I get that AA didn't get his goals from playing through the middle but, for me, he is a striker. I guess it is down to interpretation of the word striker.

[Matthew Le God]

23 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Disagree. Ballard and Downs have proven nothing so far

Top scorer for the best team in 2.Bundesliga last season is not nothing.

He scored vs Bayer Leverkusen last season. I doubt he'd find Oxford United's defence daunting in comparison.

Edited 10 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Matthew Le God]

18 minutes ago, saintant said:

Yes, as a striker. 

He was playing out wide in the majority of games in 2023/24, with defensive responsibilities supporting the fullback in deep positions. That is not the role of a striker.

[Football Special]

29 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Disagree. Ballard and Downs have proven nothing so far and Stewart's fitness is far from guaranteed. Whilst Archer should be decent, I'm not sure I'd be relying on him to get the lion's share of goals we'll need for promotion.

Archer, Stewart, Downs and Armstrong I'd be okay with, Ballard can go and prove himself in League 1 as far as I'm concerned.

I agree with this. Archer definitely needs a strong McBurnie type forward to create space for him , if he was leading the line without support in the championship he'd be too easy to defend against and offers nothing in the air. 

How many games has Stewart even played in the Championship to be considered proven? 

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

He was playing out wide in the majority of games in 2023/24, with defensive responsibilities supporting the fullback in deep positions. That is not the role of a striker.

Well, you always know best so I must bow to your superior intelligence but I would class AA as more of an inside forward than a wide man. If he was a wide man helping out his full back regularly then his return of 24 goals is even more impressive yet many want to sell him potentially to one of our rivals.

[trousers]

19 minutes ago, Football Special said:

How many games has Stewart even played in the Championship to be considered proven? 

13?

Edit: just checked... 16

Edit #2: 1,065 minutes playing time in total, which equates to approx 11.5 full games

Edited 9 hours ago by trousers

[Gloucester Saint]

5 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I agree with this. Archer definitely needs a strong McBurnie type forward to create space for him , if he was leading the line without support in the championship he'd be too easy to defend against and offers nothing in the air. 

How many games has Stewart even played in the Championship to be considered proven? 

Only played a dozen or so, did score ten mind but as sample sizes go, it’s very limited.

[Matthew Le God]

3 hours ago, saintant said:

Well, you always know best so I must bow to your superior intelligence but I would class AA as more of an inside forward than a wide man. If he was a wide man helping out his full back regularly then his return of 24 goals is even more impressive yet many want to sell him potentially to one of our rivals.

He is worth keeping for next season as he is prolific in the Championship. Would need to be sold if promoted as he isn't good enough for the PL.

Edited 6 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[spyinthesky]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

Well, you always know best so I must bow to your superior intelligence but I would class AA as more of an inside forward than a wide man. If he was a wide man helping out his full back regularly then his return of 24 goals is even more impressive yet many want to sell him potentially to one of our rivals.

I tend to agree with your assessment of AA.
However it appears that he prefers to play as a central striker which, in my humble opinion, is not his best position.

[Wade Garrett]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He is worth keeping for next season as he is prolificin the Championship. Would need to be sold if promoted as he isn't good enough for the PL.

Steve Bull was prolific in the Championship (or Division 2 as it was).  Maybe we should sign him as well.

Personally, like Steve Bull, I think Adam Armstrong is past his best.  Good time to cash in on him.

[lambtiss]

43 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not sure we can view Downs as a negative yet until he's actually shown what he can do. He hasn't proven himself yet but he hasn't disproven himself either. 

To be fair to @Lighthouse  he was not declaring Downs as a negative. Rather, he was stating the fact that he has no experience in England and cannot be counted on as a positive.

[Chez]

19 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He was playing out wide in the majority of games in 2023/24, with defensive responsibilities supporting the fullback in deep positions. That is not the role of a striker.

Was he?

I'm not sure transfermarkt get it right all the time when it comes to positions, but they say he played out wide in 23 games in 2023/24 and centrally in 26 games.

They don't give a position for 3 games when coming on as a sub.

He scored 16 games when playing centrally and 8 when played wide.

[Midfield_General]

Solak said that he’d approved the signings of a defender, attacker and creative midfielder without the need to sell anyone first. We’ve got the defender and attacker now, so hopefully should start seeing some links to creative mids next. 

[Football Special]

14 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Only played a dozen or so, did score ten mind but as sample sizes go, it’s very limited.

Thanks. Would be a great story if Stewart did the job for us but feels a big gamble with his injury record and limited experience. 

 

[Chez]

10 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I think Adam Armstrong is past his best.  Good time to cash in on him.

could be, but maybe he just lost his way (and found it beyond his ability) a second time in the top flight. Like most strikers, he's a confidence player and once that goes, he dallies and chances disappear fast at the top level. I didn't think he would bounce back last time...could he do it again? Does he want to? I imagine he was pretty annoyed the club farmed him out on loan and I suspect he would favour a move. 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not sure we can view Downs as a negative yet until he's actually shown what he can do. He hasn't proven himself yet but he hasn't disproven himself either. 

I didn't list him as a negative, I said he was unproven. We've got BBD who has scored 36 goals in his last two full seasons in the Championship and Armstrong who has 65 in three. They may have had a couple of inimpressive loans recently but I can't for the life of me understand the desire to get rid of them. Especially if the alternative is keeping Dom Ballard, who has six goals in three season in League 1.

[Chez]

I mentioned him earlier on this thread as a player we should target, Tyler Bindon as a great loan option from Forest. Looks like Sheff United think so too.

[revolution saint]

My money is on Besfort Zeneli for the creative midfielder.  We were linked a few weeks ago and hasn't really been any rumours of midfielders since.  Plays a bit like Stu Armstrong and has a decent crossfield pass which Still seems to like.

 

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

My money is on Besfort Zeneli for the creative midfielder.  We were linked a few weeks ago and hasn't really been any rumours of midfielders since.  Plays a bit like Stu Armstrong and has a decent crossfield pass which Still seems to like.

 

Looks a decent player in that video.

[Teamsaint1]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

could be, but maybe he just lost his way (and found it beyond his ability) a second time in the top flight. Like most strikers, he's a confidence player and once that goes, he dallies and chances disappear fast at the top level. I didn't think he would bounce back last time...could he do it again? Does he want to? I imagine he was pretty annoyed the club farmed him out on loan and I suspect he would favour a move. 

I thought I saw a comment from somebody authoritative that he wanted to go out on loan for the second half of last season.

[benjii]

1 hour ago, revolution saint said:

My money is on Besfort Zeneli for the creative midfielder.  We were linked a few weeks ago and hasn't really been any rumours of midfielders since.  Plays a bit like Stu Armstrong and has a decent crossfield pass which Still seems to like.

 

Sounds like some sort of motor supply brand.

Tyres, or oil, or something. 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, revolution saint said:

My money is on Besfort Zeneli for the creative midfielder.  We were linked a few weeks ago and hasn't really been any rumours of midfielders since.  Plays a bit like Stu Armstrong and has a decent crossfield pass which Still seems to like.

 

Great, 6 assists and 2 goals in 40 games.  Amazing, I bet there are a few teams in for him.

[Midfield_General]

12 minutes ago, benjii said:

Sounds like some sort of motor supply brand.

Tyres, or oil, or something. 

Or a law firm specialising in defending the Mafia. 

[Saint86]

17 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

He isn't currently comparable in quality because Che Adams has shown he is capable of scoring 9 league goals a season in two top 5 European Leagues. Archer hasn't yet shown he can score a reasonable amount at that higher level.

Why are either of you comparing archer and Adams, they're entirely different types of striker ffs. A better comparison would be AA and Archer.

Edited 7 hours ago by Saint86

[Saint86]

17 hours ago, macca155 said:

I reckon Stewart and Downs will compete for one position. Maybe Armstrong and Ballard the other. BBD and Archer will no doubt find suitors elsewhere.

But who knows, we haven't seen Still's system yet, and way more chapters in this transfer window.

My feel is it's going to be 4-3-3 (based on our current squad)

DD and stewart will be the CF / hold up target man in that system. And we'll see some combination of archer / Armstrong / dibling, edozie etc as the wider forwards. DD has already shown he is very good as a deep lying forward with the ability to hold the ball and bring runners into play with damaging through balls etc.

Midfield 3 of Charles, Flynn, and Fernandes (cheat code activated - I can dream) 😝.

Suspect if Fernandes goes we'll buy another creative attacking mid.

I personally think we'll be leaving the strikers as they are once DD joins - probably see one or 2 heading out - Ballard and BBD maybe?

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[Suhari]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

My feel is it's going to be 4-3-3 (based on our current squad)

DD and stewart will be the CF / hold up target man in that system. And we'll see some combination of archer / Armstrong / dibling, edozie etc as the wider forwards. DD has already shown he is very good as a deep lying forward with the ability to hold the ball and bring runners into play with damaging through balls etc.

Midfield 3 of Charles, Flynn, and Fernandes (cheat code activated - I can dream) 😝.

Suspect if Fernandes goes we'll buy another creative attacking mid.

I personally think we'll be leaving the strikers as they are once DD joins - probably see one or 2 heading out - Ballard and BBD maybe?

Yeah. Gut feel says we're done signing strikers after DD.

Move on BBD, and that's likely our 'roster'.

Should be strong enough... favourable comparison to last season in the Championship.

[Saint86]

12 minutes ago, Suhari said:

Yeah. Gut feel says we're done signing strikers after DD.

Move on BBD, and that's likely our 'roster'.

Should be strong enough... favourable comparison to last season in the Championship.

I'm excited for the season ahead. Think our young players are another year older in a way that is actually meaningful - I.e., stronger and more experienced. Charles and Edwards have glowing reviews coming back to us - and both of these 2 will pair nicely with the likes of Flynn and THB respectively. Dibling (if we keep him) has the potential to be a monster at this level frankly, as does Fernandes (he's far too good for the champ - would be mental if we kept him). Edozie as well has had a good year abroad playing regularly. Smallbone is a very good squad player at this level as well - although he may lack the physicality that still requires.

But considering that Will seems to inStill (🌚) a good defensive record at teams, with the fact that our core spine looks to be very solid for the league, and I think we should be a very good proposition. But all that optimism is based on Still being worth the hype / buzz, and on him being able to turn the general atmosphere / morale around the team around early doors.

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

I'm excited for the season ahead. Think our young players are another year older in a way that is actually meaningful - I.e., stronger and more experienced. Charles and Edwards have glowing reviews coming back to us - and both of these 2 will pair nicely with the likes of Flynn and THB respectively. Dibling (if we keep him) has the potential to be a monster at this level frankly, as does Fernandes (he's far too good for the champ - would be mental if we kept him). Edozie as well has had a good year abroad playing regularly. Smallbone is a very good squad player at this level as well - although he may lack the physicality that still requires.

But considering that Will seems to inStill (🌚) a good defensive record at teams, with the fact that our core spine looks to be very solid for the league, and I think we should be a very good proposition. But all that optimism is based on Still being worth the hype / buzz, and on him being able to turn the general atmosphere / morale around the team around early doors.

Smallbone is a liability.  Weak as piss and hides during games.

[goodymatt]

Kyoto Furuhashi or Damion Downs, who is the better signing?

One is perhaps on the way down, whilst the other has potential to realise. I see Downs as a better investment but expect Furuhashi to score more this coming season.

[Oh no Mick Mills]

Sorry, I don't see him hiding in games. 

Physically not strong enough and a lack of pace yes... but also arguably our best player in the play offs. 

He's fine as long as we don't expect much from him defensively. 

He's a much better better passer than Downes.

6 goals and 3 assists says to me an important squad player. 

 

[Oh no Mick Mills]

13 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Smallbone is a liability.  Weak as piss and hides during games.

 

Just now, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Sorry, I don't see him hiding in games. 

Physically not strong enough and a lack of pace yes... but also arguably our best player in the play offs. 

He's fine as long as we don't expect much from him defensively. 

He's a much better better passer than Downes.

6 goals and 3 assists says to me an important squad player. 

 

 

[West end Saints]

10 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Smallbone is a liability.  Weak as piss and hides during games.

And yet over the final, hardest, highest pressure part of our promotion push last time in the league was superb. (2nd Tier podcast had him as the player of the play offs).

Proven as decent in championship. Would rather Fernandes, and agree Smallbone was out of his depth this season, as was Downes and many more) but don't get this hate on him. 

Happy to have better but he just isn't as bad as some people love to post - in this division 

[ErwinK1961]

42 minutes ago, West end Saints said:

And yet over the final, hardest, highest pressure part of our promotion push last time in the league was superb. (2nd Tier podcast had him as the player of the play offs).

Proven as decent in championship. Would rather Fernandes, and agree Smallbone was out of his depth this season, as was Downes and many more) but don't get this hate on him. 

Happy to have better but he just isn't as bad as some people love to post - in this division 

Agreed, as the the front of a midfield three he was a solid performer last time.

He looked poor when playing in a defensive two, but everyone could see that wasn’t his position (except Martin).

[coalman]

2 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Agreed, as the the front of a midfield three he was a solid performer last time.

He looked poor when playing in a defensive two, but everyone could see that wasn’t his position (except Martin).

There's about 2/3 of a really good footballer in there. Passing great, movement great, shooting good. But also, struggles to take the ball on the half turn and isn't going to win the physical battle in the middle of the park. If teams stand off him he can pull them apart. If they get in his face he fades into the background.

Edited 9 minutes ago by coalman

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Sorry, I don't see him hiding in games. 

Physically not strong enough and a lack of pace yes... but also arguably our best player in the play offs. 

He's fine as long as we don't expect much from him defensively. 

He's a much better better passer than Downes.

6 goals and 3 assists says to me an important squad player. 

 

Good squad player but wouldn't want him starting too many games unless he goes on the weights and bulks up.

[Danbert]

I remember JWP being a bit like that until Hassenhutl had a word

[goodymatt]

19 minutes ago, Danbert said:

I remember JWP being a bit like that until Hassenhutl had a word

If we go back to a high intensity style, Smallbone is going to have to improve those parts of his game to be involved. With Prowsey it filled those gaps and he became our best player. I think we will find out this season if Will can kick on or if he is just a championship player in a possession based system only, which many suspect.

[Farmer Saint]

16 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

If we go back to a high intensity style, Smallbone is going to have to improve those parts of his game to be involved. With Prowsey it filled those gaps and he became our best player. I think we will find out this season if Will can kick on or if he is just a championship player in a possession based system only, which many suspect.

Smallbone won't be starting TBF.

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, West end Saints said:

And yet over the final, hardest, highest pressure part of our promotion push last time in the league was superb. (2nd Tier podcast had him as the player of the play offs).

Proven as decent in championship. Would rather Fernandes, and agree Smallbone was out of his depth this season, as was Downes and many more) but don't get this hate on him. 

Happy to have better but he just isn't as bad as some people love to post - in this division 

I don’t hate him, I don’t know the guy.

I don’t rate him as a footballer.   

[swannymere]

8 hours ago, Chez said:

Looks a decent player in that video.

I look like Messi in edited highlight videos.

[Patches O Houlihan]

3 minutes ago, swannymere said:

I look like Messi in edited highlight videos.

 

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, swannymere said:

I look like Messi in edited highlight videos.

I'll be happy to assess that claim

[gio1saints]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

My feel is it's going to be 4-3-3 (based on our current squad)

DD and stewart will be the CF / hold up target man in that system. And we'll see some combination of archer / Armstrong / dibling, edozie etc as the wider forwards. DD has already shown he is very good as a deep lying forward with the ability to hold the ball and bring runners into play with damaging through balls etc.

Midfield 3 of Charles, Flynn, and Fernandes (cheat code activated - I can dream) 😝.

Suspect if Fernandes goes we'll buy another creative attacking mid.

I personally think we'll be leaving the strikers as they are once DD joins - probably see one or 2 heading out - Ballard and BBD maybe?

And one reason I think it’s a good chance we start out with three forwards on pitch is that we still got loads of them to shift and probably will have a few left over come start of season. Plus Still will want to start as offensive as possible. 

Essentially, TD and JR are forwards. RF and SE ditto. CA, RS, AA BBD and DD same. And ditto Ballard. Total 10 - And that’s with two taken out! I think we will end up with 6/10.  A couple loaned out and a couple sold. 

Edited 27 minutes ago by gio1saints

[revolution saint]

Brugge apparently in talks over a permanent transfer of Edozie

 

[Lighthouse]

Replaceable. Wouldn’t lose sleep.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

And one reason I think it’s a good chance we start out with three forwards on pitch is that we still got loads of them to shift and probably will have a few left over come start of season. Plus Still will want to start as offensive as possible. 

Essentially, TD and JR are forwards. RF and SE ditto. CA, RS, AA BBD and DD same. And ditto Ballard. Total 10 - And that’s with two taken out! I think we will end up with 6/10.  A couple loaned out and a couple sold. 

 

It's a thought, but it might give SR the excuse to play a team of left backs, nustjust because they've been stock-piling them. 🙂

[coalman]

36 minutes ago, swannymere said:

I look like Messi in edited highlight videos.

I look like Lionel Blair in highlight videos.