Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

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. 

Probably moving on then next week, can’t see him as a lone striker any more than AA. Doesn’t have the link and hold up play of say an Ings. More buyers potentially than AA and certainly BBD or Stewart.

Pity, as I think he will score if used properly and actually has pace. But better to bring another striker to suit the manager’s set-up rather than another individual transaction to try to turn a profit on like Archer, Downs or BBD.

Edited 16 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[OneMrsWallace]

10 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Probably moving on then next week, can’t see him as a lone striker any more than AA. Doesn’t have the link and hold up play of say an Ings. More buyers potentially than AA and certainly BBD or Stewart.

Pity, as I think he will score if used properly and actually has pace. But better to bring another striker to suit the manager’s set-up rather than another individual transaction to try to turn a profit on like Archer, Downs or BBD.

Isn't part of the problem that we're still debating what to do with AA when he should have gone the moment we were promoted to the PL, given they already knew he wasn't good enough at that level. For me he's the epitomy of everything that's wrong with SR transfer policies. They have created their own mess and don't seem to know how to get out of it despite the appointment of Spors. 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, OneMrsWallace said:

Isn't part of the problem that we're still debating what to do with AA when he should have gone the moment we were promoted to the PL, given they already knew he wasn't good enough at that level. For me he's the epitomy of everything that's wrong with SR transfer policies. They have created their own mess and don't seem to know how to get out of it despite the appointment of Spors. 

And the biggest earner of the striker group. The only club I could see him going to is Boro and will they want to strengthen a promotion rival?

Personally, to free up wages and space for a sorely needed new focal point (Downs won’t be that for at least a couple of years and a loan out or two) I’d gamble and let him go, for AA’s benefit as well. 

But I don’t think that’s what they’ll do.

[chivvy]

Please someone buy bbd and Armstrong in some kind of Dixon and speedie pairing from Blackburn days..  I actually felt for Damien downs yesterday constantly want the ball in behind but not getting it.. just turn back and recycle.. no urgency from anyone was the most frustrating thing yesterday..  massive week ahead for spors

Edited 16 hours ago by chivvy

[EBS1980]

4 minutes ago, chivvy said:

Please someone buy bbd and Armstrong in some kind of Dixon and speedie pairing from Blackburn days..  I actually felt for Damien downs yesterday constantly want the ball in behind but not getting it.. just turn back and recycle.. no urgency from anyone was the most frustrating thing yesterday..  massive week ahead for spors

That’s cos we don’t have the support players to see that. Sill admitted yesterday the attack was just crosses into the box, we need that creative mid who can see runs and put through balls in.

[West end Saints]

47 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

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.

Better attacking midfielders than Fernandes who is likely to go for £40m and be replaced by a £15m downgrade?

That's what worries me, we are saying our weakness is where we are also saying we have our best player??!

[CSA96]

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

Sadly it is Nixon but if remotely true rip their arm off.

[danjosaint]

Rip there arm off

*beat me to it *

Edited 15 hours ago by danjosaint

[Saint NL]

Something about arms being ripped off

[St Chalet]

4 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

Bite their hand off. 

[AlexLaw76]

Give them a reach-around

[CSA96]

Give them a double reach around, one with your own arm and one with the bitten off arm

[trousers]

58 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

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.

We're talking about people's hunches here which, by definition, isn't based on 'facts' or 'sample sizes'. Your hunch is that our strikers are good enough; other people have the opposite hunch. Having the opposite hunch to yourself isn't "reactionary". 

Out of interest, what number of games do you view as a "big enough sample size"? 

Edited 15 hours ago by trousers

[Harry_SFC]

9 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

Jesus they must be desperate (very unlikely to be true)

[SNSUN]

8 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

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

Stoke are a bigger team than us now, that ship has sailed.

 

#tongueincheek

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

Quick, start the car!

[SNSUN]

12 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

£7.5 million would be brilliant. I thought we'd have to pay way more than that to get rid of him. 😎

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

We're talking about people's hunches here which, by definition, isn't based on 'facts' or 'sample sizes'. Your hunch is that our strikers are good enough; other people have the opposite hunch. Having the opposite hunch to yourself isn't "reactionary". 

Out of interest, what number of games do you view as a "big enough sample size"? 

Anyone that uses the expression sample size is a penis 

[Gloucester Saint]

5 minutes ago, St Chalet said:

Bite their hand off. 

All joking aside, Parkinson uses a midfield heavy system, we aren’t going to. Will is very good in a central three, hopeless in a two, and Wrexham need someone at the top of that midfield to play people through and score a few.

He is proven to do that, and the likes of O’Brien will do the dirty stuff that he physically can’t at the moment, although I strongly suspect Parky would have weight training and high protein diet on his first day to bulk up because he’s an attention to detail person.

But it’s Nixon, and even Richard Nixon told the truth more than Alan does.

[Oh no Mick Mills]

5 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Jesus they must be desperate (very unlikely to be true)

Would rather have played Smallbone in that midfield three yesterday than Charles. 

 

[Suhari]

12 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Give them a reach-around

Give them a small bone.

[Badger]

17 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Something about arms being ripped off

…. and still being a better GK than Bazunu 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Would rather have played Smallbone in that midfield three yesterday than Charles. 

 

We’d have lost 1-4 or 1-5 if that were the case against a physically strong and mobile Stoke midfield. Downes was struggling as it was to drive forwards and Shea had an off day. MF tried but mind clearly elsewhere, probably still our best performer even so.

At Wrexham they have CM options like O’Brien to do the stuff he can’t, and no five at the back.

[Raging Bull]

16 minutes ago, trousers said:

Out of interest, what number of games do you view as a "big enough sample size"? 

46 so he can blame some other bs stat and as per usual, never admit he’s mr wrong

[BILLY]

11 minutes ago, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Would rather have played Smallbone in that midfield three yesterday than Charles. 

 

Would have been even worse 

[trousers]

24 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Anyone that uses the expression sample size is a penis 

What size?

[saintant]

Sell Fernandes. Sell or loan out Edozie, BBD, Aribo, Smallbone, Archer, Stewart, AA.

Buy or loan two big, strong, quick forwards, a fast winger who can beat his man plus two creative midfielders who can break at pace, beat a man, play between the lines and pick a pass to set up attacks and goal scoring opportunities. That's the bare minimum to get this poorly assembled squad reset and ready to function. With this in place I think the defence can just about do its job in a 433 or 4231 formation.

It's a hell of a lot to do in one week and I'm not sure Spors and his team have the nous to wheel and deal correctly but it is what it is so let's see what he comes up with.

Edited 15 hours ago by saintant

[Shropshire Saint]

No way are we going to be anywhere near the promotion race with these strikers. 

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, trousers said:

What size?

Not even big enough for a reach around 

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Sell Fernandes. Sell or loan out BBD, Aribo, Smallbone, Archer, Stewart, AA.

Buy or loan two big, strong, quick forwards, a fast winger who can beat his man plus two creative midfielders who can break at pace, beat a man, play between the lines and pick a pass to set up attacks and goal scoring opportunities. That's the bare minimum to get this poorly assembled squad reset and ready to function. With this in place I think the defence can just about do its job in a 433 or 4231 formation.

It's a hell of a lot to do in one week and I'm not sure Spors and his team have the nous to wheel and deal correctly but it is what it is so let's see what he comes up with.

Posts like this make me laugh

sell him him and him loan him him and him

buy players like this, bingo job done 

it’s all so simple 😂😂

[Turkish]

19 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

46 so he can blame some other bs stat and as per usual, never admit he’s mr wrong

Well 7 game for Ireland was a big enough “sample size” for him to tell us Bazunu was good enough to be a premier league keeper when we signed him. So 3 more left 

[saintant]

Just now, Turkish said:

Posts like this make me laugh

sell him him and him loan him him and him

buy players like this, bingo job done 

it’s all so simple 😂😂

What do you suggest as an alternative way to reset a squad that is clearly weak and disfunctional?

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, Shropshire Saint said:

No way are we going to be anywhere near the promotion race with these strikers. 

Irrelevant if we never play them. (Except for the last ten minutes when we're chasing the game)

[Turkish]

Just now, saintant said:

What do you suggest as an alternative way to reset a squad that is clearly weak and disfunctional?

I’m not saying it’s not right but every club wants those sort of players and every club wants to sell their shit ones. It’s just funny that people seem to think it’s that easy to do. 

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

And the biggest earner of the striker group. The only club I could see him going to is Boro and will they want to strengthen a promotion rival?

 

Currently I don't see any other team as a "promotion rival".

[saintant]

Just now, Turkish said:

I’m not saying it’s not right but every club wants those sort of players and every club wants to sell their shit ones. It’s just funny that people seem to think it’s that easy to do. 

Where did I say it was easy to do? 🙂

[S-Clarke]

3 hours 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.

Sadly it's what we've all said. It's not a clanger, but it's a shot an easily capable GK would have got something on. Again, you're left thinking 'should he have saved it?' after a game. It's the only consistent factor in the 3 years of watching him.

Not much more we can say about him really. The club still seem to think he'll get better and that he's fine, which is the sort of naivety, in such a crucial position, that will send us tumbling down the league without better players to rescue him at the top end.

Ignoring the availability of Johannsen for £1m to back him was utter 'woke' nonsense.

Edited 14 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Gloucester Saint]

10 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Sadly it's what we've all said. It's not a clanger, but it's a shot an easily capable GK would have got something on. Again, you're left thinking 'should he have saved it?' after a game. It's the only consistent factor in the 3 years of watching him.

Not much more we can say about him really. The club still seem to think he'll get better and that he's fine, which is the sort of naivety, in such a crucial position, that will send us tumbling down the league without better players to rescue him at the top end.

Ignoring the availability of Johannsen for £1m to back him was utter 'woke' nonsense.

SR just will not admit mistakes, especially if Ankerson signed them off. I’ve been critical of Spors but I wouldn’t blame him and/or Still if they walked assuming that the transfer window continues to be a shit show. Unfortunately Spors pissed on his own chips by signing those two fringe players from Germany added to an already bloated and poor squad. Great excuse for SR to not back him next week and use the Dibling money to extend Bazunu and other contracts like they did with Jack to their pets.

The dogma about not losing face and admitting mistakes is killing SFC. Even in the 1990s, when we were skint, Askham and Lawrie had to write off big contracts for Hurlock, Dixon, Speedie, loads of others which hurt badly but needed doing. Kat with Osvaldo. You’ve got to clean the stables sometimes and take a few baths. Not nice but needs must to free up wages at scale and give the manager a compact and cohesive squad environment. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[S-Clarke]

I saw today that Wrexham are readying a 7.5m-8m bid for Smallbone.

Wouldn't say no to that, would be a good move for him to leave for Hollywood at such a young age.

It would mean we get another CM in too which is a bonus.

Edited 14 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Badger]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

 

It would mean we get another CM in too which is a bonus.

Don’t bank on it with Sports Republic. Unless it’s an untried - but one to improve - kid from somewhere. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

The concern now in my mind is not necessarily in specific player positions (although there are glaring deficiencies in quality across the squad), but in the pathway to transform the squad. The turnaround is not going to happen in this window that’s clear and it’s probably not going to happen in the next window either. In the meantime Still has to contend with delivering to high expectations with a poor quality squad and so my biggest fear is that he will be the scapegoat when results leave us mid-table nearing Christmas. And then SR / Spors are suckered into another managerial change to cover up self-inflicted longer term problems.

Remember - when we think about quality we’re not talking about PL level players necessarily, but players that are suited to playing at the top of their game in this league. Is your supermarket plastic bag a quality bag? Yes it is, if it gets your shopping to the car and then excels if it gets it from the car into the house. We’re talking about players that are able to gel and play under the manager of the moment, delivering the basics well and consistently. Look at Stoke if you want an example of this in action - the footballing equivalent of a supermarket plastic bag! By the same token our squad is not fit for purpose!

[Dusic]

26 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Sadly it's what we've all said. It's not a clanger, but it's a shot an easily capable GK would have got something on. Again, you're left thinking 'should he have saved it?' after a game. It's the only consistent factor in the 3 years of watching him.

Not much more we can say about him really. The club still seem to think he'll get better and that he's fine, which is the sort of naivety, in such a crucial position, that will send us tumbling down the league without better players to rescue him at the top end.

Ignoring the availability of Johannsen for £1m to back him was utter 'woke' nonsense.

Looks where that shot hits the net. Its right in the side netting just next to the post. Excellent finish and to stop that would be a worldie save. More of an issue is how easy it was for a GK to throw the ball and create a 1vs1 situation that lead to the shot. So far this season Bazunu has played well, but understand that because he was unconvincing last time any goal he lets in will be viewed with scepticism.

Overall there is a lot of hyperbole right now about SR, Spors etc but the time to judge is next Tuesday once we know what has happened. Still has consistently outlined what he wants and Spors has happily said in public that he is accountable for all football decisions so it will be very clear who to blame if this window does end badly and that clarity of accountability is a good thing that has been lacking here for a while.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

The concern now in my mind is not necessarily in specific player positions (although there are glaring deficiencies in quality across the squad), but in the pathway to transform the squad. The turnaround is not going to happen in this window that’s clear and it’s probably not going to happen in the next window either. In the meantime Still has to contend with delivering to high expectations with a poor quality squad and so my biggest fear is that he will be the scapegoat when results leave us mid-table nearing Christmas. And then SR / Spors are suckered into another managerial change to cover up self-inflicted longer term problems.

Remember - when we think about quality we’re not talking about PL level players necessarily, but players that are suited to playing at the top of their game in this league. Is your supermarket plastic bag a quality bag? Yes it is, if it gets your shopping to the car and then excels if it gets it from the car into the house. We’re talking about players that are able to gel and play under the manager of the moment, delivering the basics well and consistently. Look at Stoke if you want an example of this in action - the footballing equivalent of a supermarket plastic bag! By the same token our squad is not fit for purpose!

This is my concern.

I did say last season that it's going to take a few windows to cycle through this squad IMO. I did want us to be ruthless (giving Jack Stephens a new contract wasn't a good start), but we've got dross on big money which other clubs don't want to pay. Until we can cycle through some of those on contract expiry our hands are tied I think. Joe Aribo and Edozie are examples, we're struggling to shift them due to their wage demands.

The mess SR have created here is unprecedented. How we ended up with a weaker squad in the PL than we had in the Champ is beyond me, so it's no real surprise to see us chugging a long a bit at the moment.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, CSA96 said:

Alan Nixon (yes, I know…) is reporting that Wrexham have offered £7.5m for Will Smallbone 

I stopped reading after Alan Nixon, he’s as reliable as Alex Crooks.

[Teamsaint1]

So if Matty F, Smallbone and Aribo all leave that leaves us with Matsuki and Sesay as cover for two MF slots. 
I’d make an assumption that we may want to play 3 in MF at times so we need 5 minimum, and  would need at least one , probably 2 senior midfielders to come in  ? 

[trousers]

Players in our 2011/12 promotion squad who were better than the equivalent players in our current squad:

Kelvin Davis 

Bartosz Bialkowski

Jose Fonte

Morgan Schneiderlin

Jack Cork

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Dean Hammond 

Richard Chaplow

Jason Puncheon

James Ward-Prowse 

Adam Lallana

Billy Sharp

Rickie Lambert

David Connolly 

 

Any I've missed...?

 

Edited 13 hours ago by trousers

[LoyalSaintSO50]

6 minutes ago, Teamsaint1 said:

So if Matty F, Smallbone and Aribo all leave that leaves us with Matsuki and Sesay as cover for two MF slots. 
I’d make an assumption that we may want to play 3 in MF at times so we need 5 minimum, and  would need at least one , probably 2 senior midfielders to come in  ? 

Especially as Downes normally has a little run of injuries/ suspensions. Very light in this area. Sesay not ready and Matsuki never will be 

[Appy]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

Players in our 2011/12 promotion squad who were better than the equivalent players in our current squad:

Kelvin Davis 

Bartosz Bialkowski

Jose Fonte

Morgan Schneiderlin

Jack Cork

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Dean Hammond 

Richard Chaplow

Jason Puncheon

James Ward-Prowse 

Adam Lallana

Billy Sharp

Rickie Lambert

David Connolly 

 

Any I've missed...?

 

Including Puncheon and JWP from 11/12 needs a VAR check. 

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Appy said:

Including Puncheon and JWP from 11/12 needs a VAR check. 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/southampton-fc/kader/verein/180/plus/0/galerie/0?saison_id=2011

Actually, I see a 16 year old Luke Shaw is also listed in the squad.... Add him to the list