Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[EBS1980]

36 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

We will sign a GK. 

a 3rd keeper though not a starting one.

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, EBS1980 said:

a 3rd keeper though not a starting one.

Why would we buck the trend and buy players better than we have?

[Patrick Bateman]

3 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

a 3rd keeper though not a starting one.

Exactly the problem with this club's transfer strategy, you are spot on. How many players have they signed that are instant names in the first 11? None.  

[Gloucester Saint]

6 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

a 3rd keeper though not a starting one.

Another waste of money then, that’s what Alex McCarthy is for. Bazunu needs competition. 

[hypochondriac]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Exactly the problem with this club's transfer strategy, you are spot on. How many players have they signed that are instant names in the first 11? None.  

Fernandes probably the only player since THB and Downes. 

[Patrick Bateman]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Fernandes probably the only player since THB and Downes. 

I'll accept that, forgot about him ... 

[Suhari]

22 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

 

Got yanked off at half time?

[Mboto Gorge]

I honestly reckon that the club expected Stewart to finally be the main man this season so they’ve half arsed it with the Downs signing, complacently thinking we had enough up front now Stewart was back fit so have signed downs to be a bit part player, which is absolutely fucking ridiculous but would explain why we only spent 8m on a position the club desperately needed. Stewart scoring against Arsenal probably lulled these complacent clowns into thinking he was gonna be the main man this season so we only need a substitute striker to beef the options up, rather than an actual top striker for this level: kind of makes sense now in their fucked up way of thinking. 
whilst these utter losers are in charge we will never fully return to being a regular premier league club, if we ever return at all under them. Absolutely fucking clueless from top to bottom when it comes to identifying the right players for the club to succeed 

[EBS1980]

I think we all agree though that whoever comes in they need to be first team ready and better than what we have. The promising signings have been made, it’s not improve the first team signings we need. 

[Bewildered]

Big week ahead, need pace and creativity in the side urgently. Much of our attacking and wide players are workhorses, plenty of effort but lack that something extra that is required to open up well organised defences.

Need 2 wide players, a 10 and a striker IMO, though going by Still's post match comments i don't see us bring in another CF. He seemed to be of the opinion the problem was the crap service they were getting and that the ones we have would start scoring if the lack of creativity was addressed.

[Saint_lambden]

Big week ahead indeed…

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Saint_lambden said:

Big week ahead indeed…

Have you heard anything? 

[Raging Bull]

3 minutes ago, Saint_lambden said:

Big week ahead indeed…

Come on fam, nail yer balls to the mast and cement your itk cerds on spazweb for years to come. 

Who we signing… More than the possibility of the Armenian baller I’d never heard of. 

[davefizzy14]

7 minutes ago, Saint_lambden said:

Big week ahead indeed…

Can you say anymore? 

[Saint_lambden]

19 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Have you heard anything? 

17 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

Come on fam, nail yer balls to the mast and cement your itk cerds on spazweb for years to come. 

Who we signing… More than the possibility of the Armenian baller I’d never heard of. 

14 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Can you say anymore? 

Been on holiday so not really heard anything but will hopefully find out more when back Tuesday. Don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure we need 3 or 4 in the door though and about the same to go out (Aribo, Smallbone, ABK, Sugawara and Matsuki (loan). 

 

[Willo of Whiteley]

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, we don’t target the right players. Sport Republic try to be cocky and clever, their success rate has got to be only 5%. Most of the signings in thier era have been dogshit.

Take Leeds as an example, big club, in the Championship buying semi-experienced fringe Premier League players: Dan James, Joe Roden, Ethan Ampadu etc. 
Players that will dominate a league like this and kick on.

Look at our signings, a couple of untried and unknowns from a foreign league who have “potential”.

Southampton are a big fish in the Championship, so why is the club philosophy to buy untried players from abroad?

If you’re serious about promotion you go and get players that will get you promoted. It’s not rocket science.

[vectraman]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Fernandes probably the only player since THB and Downes. 

I’d definitely suggest a certain goalkeeper too - Ramsdale?! Most definitely a starter!

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, vectraman said:

I’d definitely suggest a certain goalkeeper too - Ramsdale?! Most definitely a starter!

Get the Stoke keeper.  He is better blindfolded than Bazunu.

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, vectraman said:

I’d definitely suggest a certain goalkeeper too - Ramsdale?! Most definitely a starter!

Forgot about him so fair enough. Not great though that that's the only two! 

[Pamplemousse]

5 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, we don’t target the right players. Sport Republic try to be cocky and clever, their success rate has got to be only 5%. Most of the signings in thier era have been dogshit.

Take Leeds as an example, big club, in the Championship buying semi-experienced fringe Premier League players: Dan James, Joe Roden, Ethan Ampadu etc. 
Players that will dominate a league like this and kick on.

Look at our signings, a couple of untried and unknowns from a foreign league who have “potential”.

Southampton are a big fish in the Championship, so why is the club philosophy to buy untried players from abroad?

If you’re serious about promotion you go and get players that will get you promoted. It’s not rocket science.

Yup exactly. Hopefully the Roerslev signing is an indicator of us signing a few more proven players before the window closes.

[Midfield_General]

8 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Only one of those three is best as a central striker, he left out two that are.

Why are you talking about positions or who Still picks? That is completely irrelevant to the point.

The point is that you said that if Saints had BBD, Armstrong, Archer, Downs and Stewart as our striking options then that would be fine and we wouldn’t need to sign anyone else up front because between them they were good enough options and would score enough goals to get us promoted. Because BBD, Archer, Armstrong and Stewart had done it before at this level and Downs had done it in Bundesliga 2. 

You said that Adam Armstrong and Ross Stewart are 'prolific' at this level, and on July 5th (with our striking options the same as they are now) you said we have a 'top 3 squad'. Nothing about positions or who out of those players gets picked. Just that the forward options were strong enough and we didn't need anyone else. 

Do you still stand by that? 

Again, it's fine to change your mind and admit your judgement was poor, if you'd like to. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Midfield_General

[die Mannyschaft]

Are there any players that haven't been coached to play possession football, stop at the opposition box , square the side to side, don't shoot first time but look left right then left again? If not just keep the money and get some decent recliner arm chairs installed.

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

Do you still stand by that? 

Again, it's fine to change your mind and admit your judgement was poor, if you'd like to. 

Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary. Writing off Downs already is ridiculous. Especially as the creative players Will Still wants to supply the strikers haven't been signed yet and we are currently playing a system that might not be used much after the window closes when he has the players he claims he needs to play a back four.

Edited 15 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[saint michael]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary. Writing off Downs already is ridiculous. Especially as the creative players Will Still wants to supply the strikers haven't been signed yet and we are currently playing a system that might mot be used much after the window closes when he has the players he claims he needs to play a back four.

What part of Downs game gives you hope so far?

[Dusic]

The main open links that seem potentially plausible then are:

Scienza - right footed creative player mostly from left. V good chance creation and dribbling stats from Bundesliga

Azaz - no10. Known quantity for Boro but obviously not one of our primary targets for this position

Guilavogui - right sided forward. Powerful and direct if not the most refined. Known to Still but not the most instantly appealing.

Spertsyan - clearly the no1 target for no10 but now seems unlikley which is a shame as looks a cracking player

I reckon we will end up with two of these four plus a loan that hasn't yet been mentioned.

[Sheaf Saint]

Hopefully this will convince SR that we need a first choice keeper. Shots like this, from that angle, should only ever go in if they creep just inside the post. But once again Baz has got his positioning all wrong and conceded from a low shot to his left in the centre of the goal. Like he's done over and over again since we signed him. If he's still our No1 after the window closes then that's the final nail in the coffin for SR as far as I'm concerned.

[benjii]

8 hours ago, Saint_lambden said:

Big week ahead indeed…

Zzzzzz...

[Pamplemousse]

21 minutes ago, Dusic said:

The main open links that seem potentially plausible then are:

Scienza - right footed creative player mostly from left. V good chance creation and dribbling stats from Bundesliga

Azaz - no10. Known quantity for Boro but obviously not one of our primary targets for this position

Guilavogui - right sided forward. Powerful and direct if not the most refined. Known to Still but not the most instantly appealing.

Spertsyan - clearly the no1 target for no10 but now seems unlikley which is a shame as looks a cracking player

I reckon we will end up with two of these four plus a loan that hasn't yet been mentioned.

Any two of those would be an immediate upgrade on what we have.

Hopefully by now there are a few Premier League players who have been sidelined and have realised they won't be getting the game time unless they drop down a division so fingers crossed we'll start getting calls from their agents.

[gio1saints]

46 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Are there any players that haven't been coached to play possession football, stop at the opposition box , square the side to side, don't shoot first time but look left right then left again? If not just keep the money and get some decent recliner arm chairs installed.

The reason they largely do that is not necessarily muscle-memory, though admittedly you’d understand if some ( Downes!) seem on autopilot playing that way. I’d say it’s more likely they are not imaginative enough to see a killer pass. And/Or not technically capable of delivering that killer ball.

It’s far easier to pass it to a same shirt sideways in front of 30k fans than to do the mental gymnastics of putting the ball into a place where your same shirt can be in a position shoot/head/score - and take responsibility if the pass goes wrong. 

39 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary. Writing off Downs already is ridiculous. Especially as the creative players Will Still wants to supply the strikers haven't been signed yet and we are currently playing a system that might not be used much after the window closes when he has the players he claims he needs to play a back four.

This is true. Saints fans- like all after such a defeat - ARE too reactionary - but some of the chances missed to date are going to be the same, better system, more creatives and a back four or not. 
 

For me it’s plausible that none of our players can play a killer pass to our forwards, or enough killer passes. Plausible but not really as likely as the elephant in the room; for me, it’s more likely they are simply frightened to. The consequences of a mistaken pass can lead to a goal conceded - and that fear for our players currently, is greater than the desire to win. Not losing > winning at Saints and that needs addressing. 

[Harry_SFC]

My Leeds supporting mate said we could do worse than signing Ramazani from them. Quick skillful winger who got 7 goals last season and is now down the order. He reckons he's available on loan. 

Edit - just seen he's in talks with Valencia. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Harry_SFC

[lambtiss]

 While watching the Football League highlights from yesterday's matches, I noticed that of the Championship attacking players that we have been linked with; Azaz scored, Rudoni scored, Sargeant scored.

Which one will we sign ? ..............  Alfonso Nobodini from the French / German nether regions. 

Sorry, feeling very frustrated today by SRs pitiful purchasing record.

[aintforever]

46 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Hopefully this will convince SR that we need a first choice keeper. Shots like this, from that angle, should only ever go in if they creep just inside the post. But once again Baz has got his positioning all wrong and conceded from a low shot to his left in the centre of the goal. Like he's done over and over again since we signed him. If he's still our No1 after the window closes then that's the final nail in the coffin for SR as far as I'm concerned.

This. It was a classic Baz goal, not an obvious mistake just bad positioning and anticipation - that’s why his xg stats are always so shit.

We all know he’s not good enough, why the hell have we started the season seeing the same issues as last time?

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, aintforever said:

This. It was a classic Baz goal, not an obvious mistake just bad positioning and anticipation - that’s why his xg stats are always so shit.

We all know he’s not good enough, why the hell have we started the season seeing the same issues as last time?

XG stands for Exaggerated Guesswork. 

[obelisk]

1 hour ago, saint michael said:

What part of Downs game gives you hope so far?

Well he was in the right place to miss a couple of sitters I suppose. Just needs to be able to make contact with a football now.

[saintant]

8 hours ago, Saint_lambden said:

Been on holiday so not really heard anything but will hopefully find out more when back Tuesday. Don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure we need 3 or 4 in the door though and about the same to go out (Aribo, Smallbone, ABK, Sugawara and Matsuki (loan). 

 

Unfortunately, SR is not blessed with rocket scientist 🙂

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, aintforever said:

This. It was a classic Baz goal, not an obvious mistake just bad positioning and anticipation - that’s why his xg stats are always so shit.

We all know he’s not good enough, why the hell have we started the season seeing the same issues as last time?

Someone will be along in a moment to tell us "Baz is fine in this league".

He isn't, and wasn't previously

Edited 14 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[saintant]

8 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, we don’t target the right players. Sport Republic try to be cocky and clever, their success rate has got to be only 5%. Most of the signings in thier era have been dogshit.

Take Leeds as an example, big club, in the Championship buying semi-experienced fringe Premier League players: Dan James, Joe Roden, Ethan Ampadu etc. 
Players that will dominate a league like this and kick on.

Look at our signings, a couple of untried and unknowns from a foreign league who have “potential”.

Southampton are a big fish in the Championship, so why is the club philosophy to buy untried players from abroad?

If you’re serious about promotion you go and get players that will get you promoted. It’s not rocket science.

Because they are much cheaper.

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary. Writing off Downs already is ridiculous. Especially as the creative players Will Still wants to supply the strikers haven't been signed yet

We're already the most creative team in the league...

 

[Gloucester Saint]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

We're already the most creative team in the league...

 

Interesting, and clashes with Still’s post-match comments.

Perhaps he didn’t want to push the strikers under the bus in public? 

[Willo of Whiteley]

People will say reactionary because of yesterdays game, but it’s been plainly obvious for a few months now we needed an established striker, a couple of established wingers, maybe a new CB and GK whilst clearing the deadwood.

It doesn’t take a genius.

Business should be done early, even if it means you pay a little more to get it done sooner. No point haggling over the odd million.

[Bakovnetski]

58 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

The reason they largely do that is not necessarily muscle-memory, though admittedly you’d understand if some ( Downes!) seem on autopilot playing that way. I’d say it’s more likely they are not imaginative enough to see a killer pass. And/Or not technically capable of delivering that killer ball.

It’s far easier to pass it to a same shirt sideways in front of 30k fans than to do the mental gymnastics of putting the ball into a place where your same shirt can be in a position shoot/head/score - and take responsibility if the pass goes wrong. 

This is true. Saints fans- like all after such a defeat - ARE too reactionary - but some of the chances missed to date are going to be the same, better system, more creatives and a back four or not. 
 

For me it’s plausible that none of our players can play a killer pass to our forwards, or enough killer passes. Plausible but not really as likely as the elephant in the room; for me, it’s more likely they are simply frightened to. The consequences of a mistaken pass can lead to a goal conceded - and that fear for our players currently, is greater than the desire to win. Not losing > winning at Saints and that needs addressing. 

This is true but none the more likely than our defence or midfield being caught in, and losing, possession from too short or slow interpassing, or sending the entire defence up for corners and leaving little coverage for a breakaway. Both of these happened repeatedly yesterday.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

This is true but none the more likely than our defence or midfield being caught in, and losing, possession from too short or slow interpassing, or sending the entire defence up for corners and leaving little coverage for a breakaway. Both of these happened repeatedly yesterday.

We’ve been incredibly vulnerable and sluggish against counter-attacks since spring 2022 so under Ralph. Some of it is diabolical recruitment but not all. There’s a fitness element, but also an awareness aspect of where their runners are which is missing.

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary. Writing off Downs already is ridiculous. Especially as the creative players Will Still wants to supply the strikers haven't been signed yet and we are currently playing a system that might not be used much after the window closes when he has the players he claims he needs to play a back four.

I'm not writing him off. That's not the point or the question.

My question, for the third time, is:

You said that Armstrong, Archer, BBD, Stewart and Downs were a good enough set of striker options to score enough goals to get promotion. 

So for the third time - do you stand by that, yes or no? 

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

So for the third time - do you stand by that, yes or no? 

Yes, with the caveat if we sign some good attacking midfielders that allow for a switch of formation.

I did also state... Three league games is not a big enough sample size. Some fans are far too reactionary.

Edited 13 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Yes, with the caveat if we sign some good attacking midfielders that allow for a switch of formation.

But stats say we have the highest xG. So the chances are already being created (apparently)

[egg]

5 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

I'm not writing him off. That's not the point or the question.

My question, for the third time, is:

You said that Armstrong, Archer, BBD, Stewart and Downs were a good enough set of striker options to score enough goals to get promotion. 

So for the third time - do you stand by that, yes or no? 

Downs, no, the others, yes. But played in the right way, and the right combination. I'd take Archer or Stewart up the middle, AA right, plus one other (JR on current form) on the left.

We need to get a grip on the midfield though to supply properly, and give cover when possession is lost. 

433 for me, with someone other than AA through the middle, and we've got a chance. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

But stats say we have the highest xG. So the chances are already being created (apparently)

I suspect Still trying not to push the forwards under the bus whilst texting Spors afterwards and saying ‘Damion Downs? Seriously? Send me a proper striker this week’. 

[Toussaint]

53 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

 While watching the Football League highlights from yesterday's matches, I noticed that of the Championship attacking players that we have been linked with; Azaz scored, Rudoni scored, Sargeant scored.

Which one will we sign ? ..............  Alfonso Nobodini from the French / German nether regions. 

Sorry, feeling very frustrated today by SRs pitiful purchasing record.

You’ll feel pretty daft in a couple of years time when we sell Alfonso Nobodini for £75 million. 
 

Caveat.,, or loan him to a Belgian side because we can’t shift him, in which case you won’t.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, egg said:

Downs, no, the others, yes. But played in the right way, and the right combination. I'd take Archer or Stewart up the middle, AA right, plus one other (JR on current form) on the left.

We need to get a grip on the midfield though to supply properly, and give cover when possession is lost. 

433 for me, with someone other than AA through the middle, and we've got a chance. 

Archer has a role to play but feeds off a target man. It’s either Stewart, Downs, or one comes in on loan. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Archer has a role to play but feeds off a target man. It’s either Stewart, Downs, or one comes in on loan. 

I agree that's his best position, but Still doesn't play that way. He's not the man in behind in a 4231 or out wide in a 433. He's off another (Stewart?) in a 442, or doing a better job through the the middle than AA.