Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[revolution saint]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

If Will Still has studied past performances of Bazunu there is surely no way he thinks he is good enough as a number one or two (assuming Ramsdale leaves). I will seriously reconsider my views on his credentials if he accepts a situation where McCarthy and Bazunu are our two choices for the first team.

Definitely think a strongly worded letter is in order.  

[Miltonaggro]

24 minutes ago, saintant said:

If Will Still has studied past performances of Bazunu there is surely no way he thinks he is good enough as a number one or two (assuming Ramsdale leaves). I will seriously reconsider my views on his credentials if he accepts a situation where McCarthy and Bazunu are our two choices for the first team.

This was the canary in the coalmine transfer area in summer 2023, would be a type of myopic insanity to continue now. 

[danjosaint]

And deemed Stephens worthy of 3yr deal certainly has alarm bell's ringing 

[Saint Fan CaM]

20 hours ago, MarkSFC said:

As long as we get 100m+ for them all I wont care.

See, I just don’t get this logic…in my mind it’s utterly bonkers, even if it were possible to raise that much from three mediocre PL level players, which I don’t think we would. I mean what benefit do you think supporters will get from that? Even if £100m were raised, how much would be spent on new players - 20%, 50%…it’s never been 100%?

We should be doing everything possible to keep hold of our best players and replacing the weaker players with better. It’s how a team advances, improves, stops the endless roundabout of managers, wins competitions, etc…etc.

Edited 5 hours ago by Saint Fan CaM

[Charlie Wayman]

14 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

And deemed Stephens worthy of 3yr deal certainly has alarm bell's ringing 

Incomprehensible. How bad must the other centre backs be for him to be deemed worth keeping? A sad indictment of our success at recruitment and our efforts to dispose of players considered surplus to requirements. He should never have been allowed back into the building after being loaned out a few years ago.

[CSA96]

3 hours ago, Danbert said:

According to the Echo...

"Saints could decide to sign someone better than Bazunu and McCarthy, but have more pressing areas for high-value recruitment."

🤬 

I do wonder if that means we're monitoring the loan market for GKs, presuming some decide they want to get out and play in August. Would leave the club in a position to spend the Ramsdale money on signing a replacement in the summer of 2026 (potentially with the added appeal of PL football)

[wild-saint]

6 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I do wonder if that means we're monitoring the loan market for GKs, presuming some decide they want to get out and play in August. Would leave the club in a position to spend the Ramsdale money on signing a replacement in the summer of 2026 (potentially with the added appeal of PL football)

Surely we can get a short term GK loan that will cover us for the  season. Id rather any cash be spent on a winger / No 10 than keeper. Loan Ramsdale and have him back next season when we are on a European charge

[gio1saints]

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

 

[Greenridge]

5 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

 

Please concentrate on pre-season Jack. I'm worried about how much screen time you are spending.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

7 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

 

What a load of bollocks 

[Matthew Le God]

4 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

£35k would be a very low wage for a Premier League captain. He would more likely have been on circa £60k p/w last season, with circa 40% paycut after relegation.

[Danbert]

"Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit..."

🤪

[lambtiss]

26 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I do wonder if that means we're monitoring the loan market for GKs, presuming some decide they want to get out and play in August. Would leave the club in a position to spend the Ramsdale money on signing a replacement in the summer of 2026 (potentially with the added appeal of PL football)

I sincerely hope so, neither GK is a good enough starter in my mind.

[Matty's Caddy]

20 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

 

Hi Jack!!!

[lambtiss]

23 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

 

Surely, a club captain should be a certain first-team starter? Jack isn't and shouldn't be.

[Forester]

1 hour ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

See, I just don’t get this logic…in my mind it’s utterly bonkers, even if it were possible to raise that much from three mediocre PL level players, which I don’t think we would. I mean what benefit do you think supporters will get from that? Even if £100m were raised, how much would be spent on new players - 20%, 50%…it’s never been 100%?

We should be doing everything possible to keep hold of our best players and replacing the weaker players with better. It’s how a team advances, improves, stops the endless roundabout of managers, wins competitions, etc…etc.

Can I just check, as this argument is presented as an unanswerable headline, that you are aware of extent of revenue drop and FFP rules?

So before you are tempted to say “yes, but if we get promoted it doesn’t matter”, wind the clock forward one year when we have been promoted (we hope).  What do you then want to happen?

The answer should be massively more investment in quality than that which happened last year when we went up.  But every pound we spend now, or pound we don’t raise through sales now, will constrain what we can do in a year’s time.  That was part of the problem last time in that we had racked up ludicrous bills on total shite over the prior season.

So it isn’t quite as simple and myopic as the argument you put forward.

[gio1saints]

27 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

Surely, a club captain should be a certain first-team starter? Jack isn't and shouldn't be.

You would have thought so - but there are examples of a Club Captain not being an automatic starter. Or indeed not making the first team much after being displaced. 

FWIW I’d make him Captain if he was playing - but I don’t think he will play as much as some think - my on pitch Captain in his absence would be AR - if he’s still here. I did not rate FD or AA or JB as Captains so as an alternate ~ and proviso is it’s someone who will def be playing if fit ~ I’d make MF - if it helps him stay another season with us - the captain. He would be a Lead by example captain rather than a shouty shouty. No shortage of energy running and skill or fight in him. Voice possibly only downside. But if he can play and skip as well as his compatriot at Man Utd does…

Edited 3 hours ago by gio1saints

[CampionSaint]

46 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

Surely, a club captain should be a certain first-team starter? Jack isn't and shouldn't be.

Joel Ward was club captain for Palace last season and hardly played and they didn't do too badly 🙂

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, CampionSaint said:

Joel Ward was club captain for Palace last season and hardly played and they didn't do too badly 🙂

Wasn't kelvin our club captain for a while when he wasn't playing? 

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Wasn't kelvin our club captain for a while when he wasn't playing? 

I've seen nothing to suggest that Stephens isn't considered the on-field captain.

[swannymere]

2 hours ago, danjosaint said:

And deemed Stephens worthy of 3yr deal certainly has alarm bell's ringing 

I think the fanbase might be missing some thing on Stephens as nearly all his managers have used him and not moved him on.

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

I've seen nothing to suggest that Stephens isn't considered the on-field captain.

Yes but I don't think they named kelvin as club captain until he wasn't playing much. I doubt the fact he is captain will mean he gets on the pitch if he's shite. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

2 minutes ago, swannymere said:

I think the fanbase might be missing some thing on Stephens as nearly all his managers have used him and not moved him on.

Apart from Ralph. Who at least did try to move him on.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, wild-saint said:

Surely we can get a short term GK loan that will cover us for the  season. Id rather any cash be spent on a winger / No 10 than keeper. Loan Ramsdale and have him back next season when we are on a European charge

Wouldn't mind Brentford's Icelandic 'keeper Hakon Valdimarsson. Obviously no idea whether he is available, if wages would be an issue or if he'd want to come of course. They let Mark Flekken go but have replaced him with ex Liverpool 'keeper Kelleher. The Icelandic lad seems too good to be a number two.

Edited 2 hours ago by saintant

[saintant]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Yes but I don't think they named kelvin as club captain until he wasn't playing much. I doubt the fact he is captain will mean he gets on the pitch if he's shite. 

I guess we need to hope that Still doesn't adopt the same view as RM which seemed to be that the skipper always played.

[Chez]

10 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

FWIW to those bemused at JS contract extension.
1. Club Captain for a reason. 

2. Experienced academy product and a winner at this level. Shows you can make it through the Academy. 

3. When he last renewed his wage was c £35kpw. I’m not certain if that included the relegation cut clause - but if not it means he would be on 40%-50% of that in this last year ie c£14k-£17.5kpw. 

4. He (or his agent) negotiated a three year contract NOT got given and I’m certain with his age, experience etc he would be looking for at least that £14-£17.5kpw figure. If not more. How much more? 
 

(5) Otherwise-he gets a free transfer to practically any other Championship Club for a likely same or bigger wage plus a sign on bonus. 
(6) Try recruiting someone with his age credentials experience know how etc and pay them to baby sit a load of young players -plus be captain - it’s not easy it’s not cheap it takes time and oh btw probably a transfer fee is involved and higher wages.The only player close is Jan- and he’s leaving. 

(7) Bin JS anyway cos he’s rubbish? Why? Cutting out nose to spite our face  He is Someone who, if THB stays if Wood stays Quarshie RE and  Sanda turn out good will prob be on the bench all season? And be a happy team player. 
 

You just will not get find or get that package all that easy. Keeping JS in context was a very easy decision for Still and Spors. Get promoted he may even be sold at a profit for those of you still on the ££ issue. 
 

1. Do you even need a club captain? We pay the manager to organise and motivate the players. If you didn't have one, would the world come to an end? 
2. We have been developing and playing youngsters from our youth system for decades. Young players know they can get games if they are decent.
3/4. Double. 
5. Delaying giving him a new contract doesn't mean he would automatically depart. And it wouldn't go until next summer anyway. He certainly would look elsewhere for a contract offering long term security, but if we had waited until say January, Still could then see how important he is or isn't to our promotion hopes. I am sure if we offered him a deal in January, he'd of gone for that. 
6. Fair point. But are his credentials all that great? Not a single PL club has tried to sign him whilst he was here. Bournemouth had him for a year on loan and passed on buying him. Experience and know how counts, but I'd chose more quality over more experience every time.  
7. He had a year left on his contract. We would not be binning him. We would just not be extending his contract...yet.

It's done now. I'm happy to get behind him, because he wants to be here and he is a Saint, but if things don't go well this season for him then I don't see why we can't have a good old moan at the management about giving him two more years.

[swannymere]

Club Captain is a different thing from on the field captain, the two can be the same person but we've had various differnt captains over the years. Benali and Mick Mills both served as club captain off the top of my head.

[gio1saints]

Quite right @Chez! My factual errors aside I Just thought forum was sounding a bit boring and pretty much an echo chamber re. Jack Stephens so just put out a few reasons why maybe it’s was not such a crazy idea after all to not only retain but extend him. 
If there was ONE player GUARANTEED to get it for the local derby it’s Jack. And he is currently the Captain. ✅👍. I cannot imagine he will be saying “ just another game lads”….

[coalman]

8 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

Quite right @Chez! My factual errors aside I Just thought forum was sounding a bit boring and pretty much an echo chamber re. Jack Stephens so just put out a few reasons why maybe it’s was not such a crazy idea after all to not only retain but extend him. 
If there was ONE player GUARANTEED to get it for the local derby it’s Jack. And he is currently the Captain. ✅👍. I cannot imagine he will be saying “ just another game lads”….

There's also one player who is likely to have a rush of blood and make a poor decision during a high pressure situation. I don't want the player who so casually passed across the box in the friendly the other day, got sent off for hair pulling and abused officials to the extent his ban was extended to be giving team talks.

While he's fine as a squad player in the Championship we shouldn't be building a team around his captaincy.

[Chez]

Lot of talk about Jacob Ramsey to Forest or Everton, with £30m being mentioned.  His destination and price, should Villa allow him to depart may directly impact any potential Fernandes move. 

[23rdSaint]

46 minutes ago, swannymere said:

I think the fanbase might be missing some thing on Stephens as nearly all his managers have used him and not moved him on.

Steady. Rational views not welcome here. 

[SWLondon Saint]

42 minutes ago, Chez said:

Lot of talk about Jacob Ramsey to Forest or Everton, with £30m being mentioned.  His destination and price, should Villa allow him to depart may directly impact any potential Fernandes move. 

Ramsey had a pretty decent season didn't he? That must be a PSR forced sale if true. If our finances are OK I could still see us demanding more for Fernandes...

[Farmer Saint]

3 minutes ago, SWLondon Saint said:

Ramsey had a pretty decent season didn't he? That must be a PSR forced sale if true. If our finances are OK I could still see us demanding more for Fernandes...

Villa are screwed PSR wise, so think it is with him being home grown.

[Convict Colony]

Jack Stephens is not the problem this forum thinks he is.

 

[Oh no Mick Mills]

45 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

Steady. Rational views not welcome here. 

We also got more points per game last time in the Championship when he played. 

Unfortunately this sort of thing gets ignored because it doesn't fit the anti Stephens narrative. 

Mediocre player yes.

But no worse when he played in the Prem than Bedders or THB. 

[Farmer Saint]

Club Captain can tend to be a "trophy" appointment for long term players and I think that is what this is. I don't think he'll be starting.

[le_tiss]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Lot of talk about Jacob Ramsey to Forest or Everton, with £30m being mentioned.  His destination and price, should Villa allow him to depart may directly impact any potential Fernandes move. 

 

48 minutes ago, SWLondon Saint said:

Ramsey had a pretty decent season didn't he? That must be a PSR forced sale if true. If our finances are OK I could still see us demanding more for Fernandes...

 

45 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Villa are screwed PSR wise, so think it is with him being home grown.

 

From another forum:

 

Quote

 

He doesn't play much does he? Only started 19 games last season - the reports are Villa keen to keep him, but would sell for a decent fee and player keen to move to get first team football. 

 

Villa are supposed to be fine for PSR now (women's team sale...)

 

Quote

 

Ramsey was seen as a player that Emery thought he could develop, especially being home grown but whilst all approaches were rejected last year the belief is that the club could be open to a sale this year. 

 

He's been pretty unlucky with injuries over the last couple of years - broke his foot on England u-21 duty 2 years back and kept getting issues as a result.  He only really got back up to speed in autumn last year but probably isn't contributing enough goals or assists. 

 

Quote

 

We're okay for PSR but SCR is fucking us over. We've reached an agreement with UEFA which means that we have to demonstrate a willingness to bring wages down.  The wahes of the loanees last year probably helps demonstrate that but so we can move on the players we want I think we're looking for 2/3 more sales. 

 

Ideally those will come from the likes of Bailey, Dendoncker, Buendia 

 

Quote

 

Lots of injuries but looked more like his old self towards the end of the season. Problem is both him and Rogers look best from the left so either we move Rogers to the 10/right where he is less effective  or Ramsey spends more time on the bench - - similar to our situation at left back where both Digne and Maatsen are first choice options, but on the wages they are we probably can't afford to keep both (adding in we have Moreno, Iling Junior and the new Turkish lad who can also play LB and on 1st team wages).

 

I expect he might go for a little more than the £30m but it is all PSR profit  so probably tempting for the club to cash in and look to improve elsewhere (we are most in need of a CB, right sided attacker and striker should no one leave). Also look to offload Bailey, Buendia, Dendoncker and one or 2 of our LB's to free up wages. 

 

I don' think we are actually in a BAD position as we have so far kept hold of Martinez, Kamara, Rogers and Watkins but could do with adding a couple more for depth (and we've replaced Olsen as back up keeper, which has needed doing for 2 years!) 

 

 

Quote

 

Villa are fine for PSR, but need to comply with UEFA's squad cost rules and a specific penalty for breaching them last season, which means we have to have a positive transfer balance (I think it does account for amortisation).

 

Ramsey would be pure profit for both criteria; and his injury record doesn't make him indispensable.   However, we also don't have a lot of academy players in the first team squad, so our EL squad would be light without him.

 

 

[Smirking_Saint]

2 hours ago, swannymere said:

I think the fanbase might be missing some thing on Stephens as nearly all his managers have used him and not moved him on.

I mean… to move on you need people that want you, none of the managers have wanted to bring him with them away from Soton either

And FWIW, he wasnt really getting any game time previous to Hasenhuttl who, also moved him out on loan to Bournemouth, who coincidentally didn’t take him on

So yeah… bit of a moot point

[Saint86]

44 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Jack Stephens is not the problem this forum thinks he is.

 

 

Edited 38 minutes ago by Saint86

[Farmer Saint]

43 minutes ago, le_tiss said:

 

 

 

From another forum:

 

 

 

Ah yes, they sold the women's team recently, apologies. They have also got "the Barn" that they will sell as well.

It's a fucking con.