Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Brugge apparently in talks over a permanent transfer of Edozie

 

I don't blame if he wants to go, after being dumped down the pecking order behind Fraser, Sule and Cornet. I was hoping the new set up would see him getting plenty of opportunities this season.

[hypochondriac]

Hmm. Losing Sulemana, Edozie and SAA in a year isn't great. We'd really need a top quality winger to compensate. 

[hypochondriac]

Having said that, this is all fine if losing all these fringe players for decent fees helps us to keep some of the big four. 

[S-Clarke]

Edozie simply hasn't really kicked on, even his loan last season was underwhelming to say the least - in a piss poor league I'll add. I even expected much more from him in our last Champ season, but he just underwhelmed. 

I wouldn't lose sleep if he went, we'd probably get our money back on him.

But it would highlight the need to invest some big money into a couple of top wide players.

I imagine we'll lose Fraser at some point, I can see the club paying off his contract at this point. No one is going to pay a fee for him.

So for our wide men, we'd just have two kids in Dibling and Robinson (and Armstrong if you class him as one). I would expect lots of investment in that area, and as Dibling and Robinson count towards the 'young options', we'd have to get some proven experience there.

[Lighthouse]

8 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Hmm. Losing Sulemana, Edozie and SAA in a year isn't great. We'd really need a top quality winger to compensate. 

You say that like a bunch of decent players are flooding through the exits. Between them they managed six goals in the Championship last time, and they were all from Edozie. Personally I’m more than happy to see more mediocrity leaving, if we get a decent fee.

Supposing we got something like £10m, that’d be £38m for the three of them combined this summer. Astonishing business if you ask me.

[UpweySaint]

I thought Edozie looked decent albeit a bit raw in our promotion season. If I remember correctly he got an injury just when he was getting in to rhythm with us. Unless we have a replacement lined up I would rather keep him - I think he could do a job at this level and has the potential to develop into a premier league player.

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You say that like a bunch of decent players are flooding through the exits. Between them they managed six goals in the Championship last time, and they were all from Edozie. Personally I’m more than happy to see more mediocrity leaving, if we get a decent fee.

Supposing we got something like £10m, that’d be £38m for the three of them combined this summer. Astonishing business if you ask me.

I made a follow up post just below that one. 

[gio1saints]

19 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

 

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. 🙂

I was not all that serious, as usual,  but given the effing useless composition of this bloated squad maybe we should do an Estate agents style Open Day on unwanted forwards and FB’s. You turn up at SMS on a certain day by appointment and the players all line up maybe do a few tricks got shiny boots and fresh kit on hair washed and cut that kind of thing maybe even have a chance to do a meet and greet have a selfie with a potential buyer. If we need to shift a few it’s worth a try I’d say. 🤭

[S-Clarke]

7 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

I thought Edozie looked decent albeit a bit raw in our promotion season. If I remember correctly he got an injury just when he was getting in to rhythm with us. Unless we have a replacement lined up I would rather keep him - I think he could do a job at this level and has the potential to develop into a premier league player.

I wanted to see him kick on last season, I was intrigued to see how he'd get on at Anderlecht in European comp - but he didn't really do anything. 3 or 4 goals a handful of assists, 17 league games (quite a few as sub) and loads of injuries to boot. If he's going to be of any use to us, he needs to be bossing leagues like that.

It may well be the right time to cash in.

Edited 11 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Saint86]

21 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Hmm. Losing Sulemana, Edozie and SAA in a year isn't great. We'd really need a top quality winger to compensate. 

It's not like we're losing a top quality winger though 😂 - you're just being greedy in asking for that much 😅

Edited 11 hours ago by Saint86

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

I was not all that serious, as usual,  but given the effing useless composition of this bloated squad maybe we should do an Estate agents style Open Day on unwanted forwards and FB’s. You turn up at SMS on a certain day by appointment and the players all line up maybe do a few tricks got shiny boots and fresh kit on hair washed and cut that kind of thing maybe even have a chance to do a meet and greet have a selfie with a potential buyer. If we need to shift a few it’s worth a try I’d say. 🤭

Now we know why Lallana was kept. To help with all the grooming ahead of that Open Day. 🙂

[goodymatt]

I think I’d keep Edozie, the link suggests he might want a move though. 

[Galway saint]

32 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I don't blame if he wants to go, after being dumped down the pecking order behind Fraser, Sule and Cornet. I was hoping the new set up would see him getting plenty of opportunities this season.

Why ? He’s a very mediocre player. Likely national league when push comes to shove. We over paid for him and I think it’s best he none on.

[UpweySaint]

7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I wanted to see him kick on last season, I was intrigued to see how he'd get on at Anderlecht in European comp - but he didn't really do anything. 3 or 4 goals a handful of assists, 17 league games (quite a few as sub) and loads of injuries to boot. If he's going to be of any use to us, he needs to be bossing leagues like that.

It may well be the right time to cash in.

Yeah the Anderlecht loan spell was a disappointment, can’t argue that. I don’t know much of the context of the team, how he settled etc. Hard to know how definitive it is.

I suppose the caveat is Club Brugge would have seen him in the Belgium league and fancy him based on that. They’re a decent side.

If he does go hopefully it’s for a good fee and Still is given a quality replacement well suited to how he wants to set up.

 

[revolution saint]

I’m not too fussed if Edozie goes although as the squad stands then he’s probably the best wide left option we have (yeah that ain’t saying much). Would like to think we’d have options in mind if he does go.

[Dusic]

I didn't see what he did last season in Belgium but Bruges obviously would have done.

In the Championship season he was playing really well until he got clobbered at Norwich - more of that next season would have been very useful and I would certainly prefer him wide left to Fraser or BBD.

Unless they make it financially worthwhile to the point it allows us to keep others (highly doubtful) then I would keep - we are so light on decent wide players.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

Yeah the Anderlecht loan spell was a disappointment, can’t argue that. I don’t know much of the context of the team, how he settled etc. Hard to know how definitive it is.

I suppose the caveat is Club Brugge would have seen him in the Belgium league and fancy him based on that. They’re a decent side.

If he does go hopefully it’s for a good fee and Still is given a quality replacement well suited to how he wants to set up.

 

I think we'll get our money back, maybe even make a small profit given that he now has a bit of pro football experience behind him.

I guess they'd have seen something, but it would have been a really small sample as he only played 17 times in the league. half of those as a sub. 

Get 7-10m for him, move on, and bring in a better player would be my plan. I'm kind of bored waiting for the 2022 kid cohort of Edozie/Larios/ABK/Bazunu and co to come good, they won't.

Edited 10 hours ago by S-Clarke

[HarvSFC]

Edozie's one of those with question marks over him going into next season. He could be good, or he could fall down in the pecking order and become a Championship squad player again.

Wouldn't be too upset to see him leave. Think it's clear we need a lot more end product from the wide positions, which we haven't had over the last year.

[UpweySaint]

7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think we'll get our money back, maybe even make a small profit given that he now has a bit of pro football experience behind him.

I guess they'd have seen something, but it would have been a really small sample as he only played 17 times in the league. half of those as a sub. 

Get 7-10m for him, move on, and bring in a better player would be my plan. I'm kind of bored waiting for the 2022 kid cohort of Edozie/Larios/ABK/Bazunu and co to come good, they won't.

I’ll give you Larios and ABK though I’m not sure that I would include ABK in that specific cohort as he wasn’t part of the City academy exodus. Baz I don’t think is as awful as some think and he is still young in goalkeeper terms. He has clearly lost confidence and may not come back from that.

You did miss Lavia off the list too. Injuries have been a big issue but he is clearly top quality. He was the 2022 cohort right?

I won’t be heartbroken if Edozie goes for the right fee but I do feel he is worth persevering with.

 

[SaintsLoyal]

I bet we're still paying out large lumps on players, that we are now selling for less, like tall paul as we got just £4.8m with 1.2 upfront !  over 10 million loss

Sulemana only looks to be getting back a large wedge of what we paid out initially.

Manager saying we dont need a big overhaul , when we have so many players not fit to wear the shirt

 

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

4 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Manager saying we dont need a big overhaul , when we have so many players not fit to wear the shirt

In the Premier League, sure I agree, most aren't good enough, but the vast majority of them are good for what we need this season in a weaker league. Will Still has confirmed he agrees in recent interviews.

With Quarshie and Downs added, we won't need many more to have a good go for automatic promotion. It then comes down to replacing any major players if they leave. Specifically Fernandes, Dibling and Ramsdale. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, UpweySaint said:

I’ll give you Larios and ABK though I’m not sure that I would include ABK in that specific cohort as he wasn’t part of the City academy exodus. Baz I don’t think is as awful as some think and he is still young in goalkeeper terms. He has clearly lost confidence and may not come back from that.

You did miss Lavia off the list too. Injuries have been a big issue but he is clearly top quality. He was the 2022 cohort right?

I won’t be heartbroken if Edozie goes for the right fee but I do feel he is worth persevering with.

 

I wasn't specifically referencing the City cohort as such, but we did sign a lot from them that summer!

More along the lines of adding up the contributions of ABK, Mara, Larios, Bazunu, Edozie - who were bought as young talent in that window. 3 years on and not one of those has kicked on or produced anything of note for us, 2 of them aren't even with us (one on loan). Lavia was the success, absolutely, but the club got excited by unearthing Tino the year before and thought that every young kid was going to be a Tino. We picked a good one in Lavia, but if we're honest Lavia and Tino should be the marker of success - but none of the others can lay a glove on on what either produced for us over a 10 month period (and they've had 3 years). 

I just want us to go back to signing players because they're good players, not just because they're young and highly rated from another academy. There's a little bit of apprehension in me with the signings of Quarshie and potentially Downs, but as long as we supplement those with genuine experienced quality then we can sleep a bit easier. Letting the likes of Larios/Edoze/ABK leave will allow us to add that experienced quality, as we simply don't have enough of that at the mo.

[revolution saint]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I wasn't specifically referencing the City cohort as such, but we did sign a lot from them that summer!

More along the lines of adding up the contributions of ABK, Mara, Larios, Bazunu, Edozie - who were bought as young talent in that window. 3 years on and not one of those has kicked on or produced anything of note for us, 2 of them aren't even with us (one on loan). Lavia was the success, absolutely, but the club got excited by unearthing Tino the year before and thought that every young kid was going to be a Tino. We picked a good one in Lavia, but if we're honest Lavia and Tino should be the marker of success - but none of the others can lay a glove on on what either produced for us over a 10 month period (and they've had 3 years). 

I just want us to go back to signing players because they're good players, not just because they're young and highly rated from another academy. There's a little bit of apprehension in me with the signings of Quarshie and potentially Downs, but as long as we supplement those with genuine experienced quality then we can sleep a bit easier. Letting the likes of Larios/Edoze/ABK leave will allow us to add that experienced quality, as we simply don't have enough of that at the mo.

Experienced quality eh? Presume that means trying to keep McCarthy, Bednarek, Stephens, Smallbone, Aribo, Fraser, Taylor, BBD?

It’s really about signing decent players. The experience part is pretty irrelevant.

[davefizzy14]

Personally I would like Edozie to stay, he just needs to work on his end product and he will be some player.

Edited 8 hours ago by davefizzy14

[S-Clarke]

7 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Experienced quality eh? Presume that means trying to keep McCarthy, Bednarek, Stephens, Smallbone, Aribo, Fraser, Taylor, BBD?

It’s really about signing decent players. The experience part is pretty irrelevant.

Not against keeping BBD, Bednarek, Taylor, Armstrong et all for this level, but we know there's no future beyond this level for them. The likes of Fraser and Smallbone aren't what I'd put in the quality bracket though.

When we went down to L1, we bought the best players for the level we were at, players who were ready to come in and start on day one. They supplemented the likes of Morgan and Lallana, so we could aid the kids with experience around them. We got lucky as the team grew with each other and improved with each other, but like you say it's all about signing good players at the end of the day.

I'm not against signing or bringing through young players at all, but it's all about balance. I just don't want the focus to be solely on signing talented young players, if we don't have the proven quality around them then they're never going to progress. 

I'm intrigued to see how we look in September.

[Verbal]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Replaceable. Wouldn’t lose sleep.

Not sure if football-related

Edited 8 hours ago by Verbal

[Fabrice29]

47 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

experienced quality, as we simply don't have enough of that at the mo.

Quite a lot of our squad have the experience and/or quality of a promotion of the Championship with us on their CV or better. Last thing we need is more players experienced but PL teams haven’t picked up. If we’re going down the route of signing physical qualities then young, unproven players is going to be the way forward for this season and beyond. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

In the Premier League, sure I agree, most aren't good enough, but the vast majority of them are good for what we need this season in a weaker league. Will Still has confirmed he agrees in recent interviews.

With Quarshie and Downs added, we won't need many more to have a good go for automatic promotion. It then comes down to replacing any major players if they leave. Specifically Fernandes, Dibling and Ramsdale. 

If this is what the club are thinking it’s very daft. The ‘got what we need because it’s a weaker league’ attitude stinks and will be what trips us up. Thankfully, the signings of Downs and Quarshie suggest they are looking long term and now is the time to reset where they can. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

Edozie is a great example of why this window is extremely difficult to determine who,should stay and who should go. On the one hand we can remember him pre-loan being somewhat ineffective and frustrating - unfulfilled potential perhaps. But then that was under changing management / systems that clearly didn’t fit with the player. So you’re left thinking “perhaps under Still he’ll come good”.

But then there’s the additional fact that even on loan in a ‘lesser’ league, he still didn’t excel or indeed fulfill his potential. And lastly, as time has moved on, it might be argued that Edozie is in fact better than some of the players that collectively relegated the club…e.g. Dibling and Sulemana - such has the dilution of squad quality been over the last 3-4 seasons.

On balance I think he needs to move on, but if he does what does that leave us with and what confidence is there that the club can attract a better wide player within budget that can operate well under Still? There’s many I’m sure who will be concerned that further squad dilution will be our undoing once again.

[woodsaint1]

Just noticed the amount of transfer activity Birmingham have done already. 9 players and some very good signings among them - Furuhashi, Doyle, Beadle. They have to be one of the favourites alongside ourselves and Ipswich.

That being said if we can keep the majority of Ramsdale, THB, Fernandes and Dibling, I couldnt really care less what business any other team does

[sockeye]

4 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Edozie is a great example of why this window is extremely difficult to determine who,should stay and who should go. On the one hand we can remember him pre-loan being somewhat ineffective and frustrating - unfulfilled potential perhaps. But then that was under changing management / systems that clearly didn’t fit with the player. So you’re left thinking “perhaps under Still he’ll come good”.

But then there’s the additional fact that even on loan in a ‘lesser’ league, he still didn’t excel or indeed fulfill his potential. And lastly, as time has moved on, it might be argued that Edozie is in fact better than some of the players that collectively relegated the club…e.g. Dibling and Sulemana - such has the dilution of squad quality been over the last 3-4 seasons.

On balance I think he needs to move on, but if he does what does that leave us with and what confidence is there that the club can attract a better wide player within budget that can operate well under Still? There’s many I’m sure who will be concerned that further squad dilution will be our undoing once again.

That’s like not breaking up with a bad girlfriend because you’re worried you’ll never find better. Edozie is mediocre, he has had 3 years to find form and never really did. We should take all the cash we can get for these middling squad players

[Saint Fan CaM]

17 minutes ago, sockeye said:

That’s like not breaking up with a bad girlfriend because you’re worried you’ll never find better. Edozie is mediocre, he has had 3 years to find form and never really did. We should take all the cash we can get for these middling squad players

That’s just too simplistic a view - he may well be mediocre, but under what circumstances? And what does that make the rest of the squad that got relegated - worse than mediocre? It’s more like breaking up with a bad girlfriend because you don’t realise you’re actually not worthy of anyone better.

[hypochondriac]

My opinion on losing some of these players has a lot to do with if we can keep Fernandes for a season or not. I'd happily junk almost all the players if it meant we managed to do that. It's obviously more like that we do sell Fernandes and then this extra money from the likes of Edozie had best be put to good use to get one of the best AM in the division as well as adequate replacements for positions like Edozie where we are a bit light. 

[Saint_clark]

5 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

If this is what the club are thinking it’s very daft. The ‘got what we need because it’s a weaker league’ attitude stinks and will be what trips us up. Thankfully, the signings of Downs and Quarshie suggest they are looking long term and now is the time to reset where they can. 

Both playing in the German 2nd tier last season, I'm yet to be convinced of this. 

"Got what we need" isn't a bad attitude to have - it saves us money which we can use when/if we are promoted instead of spending it on players now who may never be better than Championship level anyway.

[Toussaint]

I think we need to stop being sentimental about players who “may” come good one day. We all know we have a huge squad which we need to thin. If some of those players fulfil their potential in the future, so be it. 

[Harry_SFC]

Im sure the club will rectify it given previous comments but the lack of pace in the side is frightening. 

[sockeye]

7 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

That’s just too simplistic a view - he may well be mediocre, but under what circumstances? And what does that make the rest of the squad that got relegated - worse than mediocre? It’s more like breaking up with a bad girlfriend because you don’t realise you’re actually not worthy of anyone better.

Yeah, the squad is mediocre and bar Ramsdale Fernandes and Dibling I’d be fine with selling any of them to be honest.