Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm still holding out hope for Richard kone from Wycombe. Can score goals in English football, big strong and pacy and won't cost much at all. To my mind that's a much safer bet than some others mentioned. 

Didn't he stop scoring the last few months?

[BARCELONASAINT]

Tadic is not coming back to England, he could not wait to leave. He was sick and tired of the physical side of English football. Does anyone seriously think he would fair any better in the Championship. I've posted before about someone i know who knew Tadic very well during his stint at Saints and who Tadic personally told his reason for leaving Saints and the UK was the physicality of the league. That person on the day Tadic left the UK drove him to the airport in Tadics car and was given the keys and the car to keep!

[Chez]

5 hours ago, revolution saint said:

Cool, the opening salvos of the annual summer, experience vs potential debate.

Personally think both sides have some merit but there’s some well shit experienced players out there as well as players with potential that will become, well, shit. Ultimately I think it comes down to the scouting and getting in the best affordable players regardless of age.

There doesn’t appear to be much of a window of opportunity for young players with potential; if Downes has a breakout season next time round then he’s out of our price range in the same way we missed the boat on players like Gakpo, Hojlund and Ramos. Risk is he’s not the next in that line but the next Mara.

Whenever I read posts saying we should sign "some seasoned pros who we know will add value at this level" or along those lines, I wonder who they are referring to? Who is this seasoned striker we are sure will be good at this level?  Piroe or Sargent I presume? 

[Disco Stu]

18 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

Tadic is not coming back to England, he could not wait to leave. He was sick and tired of the physical side of English football. Does anyone seriously think he would fair any better in the Championship. I've posted before about someone i know who knew Tadic very well during his stint at Saints and who Tadic personally told his reason for leaving Saints and the UK was the physicality of the league. That person on the day Tadic left the UK drove him to the airport in Tadics car and was given the keys and the car to keep!

Where can I find this sort of work?

[hypochondriac]

51 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Didn't he stop scoring the last few months?

Form is temporary and all that. Has all the attributes to make the step up. He's one I'd like to see given a go. 

[Midfield_General]

By all accounts Tadic was on something like €135k per week at Fenerbache. I appreciate he's a free agent now, but I would be surprised if he wanted or needed to accept a fraction of that sort of wage to get the shit kicked out of him in the Championship. I would have thought a final decent pay day in Saudi or somewhere would be more appealing at this point in his career. 

[sockeye]

58 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

That person on the day Tadic left the UK drove him to the airport in Tadics car and was given the keys and the car to keep!

Anyone know if Smallbone is recruiting?

[VectisSaint]

33 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

By all accounts Tadic was on something like €135k per week at Fenerbache. I appreciate he's a free agent now, but I would be surprised if he wanted or needed to accept a fraction of that sort of wage to get the shit kicked out of him in the Championship. I would have thought a final decent pay day in Saudi or somewhere would be more appealing at this point in his career. 

Tadic will be 37 in November (older than Lallana when he rejoined), he wouldn't last the season in the Champ, probably wouldn't even make it to his 37th birthday. I like Tadic, and clearly he made a hellofa impact for Ajax, but there are definitely some rose tinted specs being used when remembering his time at Saints. Along with Gaston was notorious for giving the ball away while we were attacking, leading to goals conceded.

Edited 4 hours ago by VectisSaint

[UpweySaint]

50 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Tadic will be 37 in November (older than Lallana when he rejoined), he wouldn't last the season in the Champ, probably wouldn't even make it to his 37th birthday. I like Tadic, and clearly he made a hellofa impact for Ajax, but there are definitely some rose tinted specs being used when remembering his time at Saints. Along with Gaston was notorious for giving the ball away while we were attacking, leading to goals conceded.

Nostalgia may play a part but I don’t think it’s revisionist to say that he was technically one of the best players we have had in the past decade. He gave the ball away but also tried to, often successfully, make things happen that others couldn’t. 
 

I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer in the championship at his current age but it doesn’t diminish his ability.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

4 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

Nostalgia may play a part but I don’t think it’s revisionist to say that he was technically one of the best players we have had in the past decade. He gave the ball away but also tried to, often successfully, make things happen that others couldn’t. 
 

I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer in the championship at his current age but it doesn’t diminish his ability.

Remember a game against Bournemouth under Hughes. Scored two goals to drag us to a huge win. Yes he could be infuriating but one of those players who could have you on the edge of your seat. As you say not the answer now, but a cut above anything we have had in recent years

[revolution saint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Whenever I read posts saying we should sign "some seasoned pros who we know will add value at this level" or along those lines, I wonder who they are referring to? Who is this seasoned striker we are sure will be good at this level?  Piroe or Sargent I presume? 

Yeah, I guess Sargent although Norwich are looking for 15-20M for him and, even if that could be haggled down a bit, it's still a hefty wedge for a player who didn't do so well in the premier league and probably wouldn't again.  

[Nolan]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Who knows. Maybe it's wrong 

Tall player. Long stride. Slower first few metres, but I'm pretty sure the Bundesliga official site will be diligent with their figures.

[VectisSaint]

1 hour ago, UpweySaint said:

Nostalgia may play a part but I don’t think it’s revisionist to say that he was technically one of the best players we have had in the past decade. He gave the ball away but also tried to, often successfully, make things happen that others couldn’t. 
 

I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer in the championship at his current age but it doesn’t diminish his ability.

Really don't think he did it often enough to be thought of in the way some do. As I said I liked him but he was frustrating when he was with us, especially when you see what he did when he left. But that wasn't really the point of my post, he is 37, and would not suit in the Championship now.

[UpweySaint]

8 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Really don't think he did it often enough to be thought of in the way some do. As I said I liked him but he was frustrating when he was with us, especially when you see what he did when he left. But that wasn't really the point of my post, he is 37, and would not suit in the Championship now.

Fair enough, game of opinions! There aren’t many players I’ve preferred watching for saints in the last decade or so but I get that he could infuriate. 
 

Your main point - Dusan at 37 isn’t right for the championship - yeah no arguments. I don’t think he would fancy it and I couldn’t see him being up for a 46 game slog. It would be fun to see him doing his thing back in a saints shirt against lower quality opposition but it doesn’t feel like a se sensible or realistic bit of squad building.

[S-Clarke]

In terms of Dusan, there's a lot of romance in wanting that to happen - but I don't think it's worth exploring from a pure footballing point of view.

We need to move on from looking to the past, and start building a new squad full of players for the future.

We went all romantic by re-signing Theo and Lallana and they were just pointless wage hoggers. I'm glad we dodged the AOC move as well, another one who should be left in the past.

[Dusic]

26 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

In terms of Dusan, there's a lot of romance in wanting that to happen - but I don't think it's worth exploring from a pure footballing point of view.

We need to move on from looking to the past, and start building a new squad full of players for the future.

We went all romantic by re-signing Theo and Lallana and they were just pointless wage hoggers. I'm glad we dodged the AOC move as well, another one who should be left in the past.

He scored 11 goals and got 13 assists in the league last year and was pretty much always available so different from Walcott or Lallana. From a footballing point of view he would be a class apart in the Championship.

The issue as others mentioned is that he will have absolutely no interest in it. Not sure why I have even wasted a post writing about it to be honest.