January Transfer Window

[DT]

I would have thought they are working on a loan striker in order to let Armstrong go. If we can't get one, which might itself depend on that club getting someone in (I'm thinking Leeds and Piroe), then we won't budge on AA. Like buying a house in a chain.

Armstrong looks fed up with it all to me, and wants the Hollywood Wrexham 'story'. Plus they would stand a chance of going up with him.

Edited 4 hours ago by DT

[Willo of Whiteley]

I don’t think Adam Armstrong will leave.

There’s literally been one “report” of a link to Wrexham and nothing more than that.

Lazy journalism.

[coalman]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

But would you spent big, just to position us to make a late charge into what is in effect 3 games of lottery?

I'd just stick to loans, they will be out there - if our recruitment is half decent.

If there's a decent striker available at the decent price that is better than we have and wants to come here we should absolutely sign them up. The same should be true any window though with all positions prioritising the areas of greatest need.

[Willo of Whiteley]

23 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Outgoings only, most like fringe players and deadwood.

Thinking about it they have actually had a semi-productive clear out so far:
Bazunu, Edwards (although I think he should’ve stayed and we should’ve let another CB go), Larios recalled from loan with anticipation of a permanent deal, Fraser too.

If Edozie and Aribo were let go then I’ll take that. They aren’t being played so may as well get the finances off our books

[Willo of Whiteley]

I know this is outlandish but these are players I’ve bought on FIFA/FM for the 25/26 promotion push:

Viktor Johansson (GK)
Max Aarons (RB)
Charlie Cresswell (CB)
Andre Garcia (LB)
James Ward-Prowse (CM, loan)
Jesuran Rak-Sakyi (RW, loan)
Evan Ferguson

I’d argue that’s a better transfer window than Sport Republic’s. 😂

At least when I have five minutes to play a game it makes me feel better about the shitshow in real life. 😂

[SaintsRoyalty]

15 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

I good interviewer then goes for the jugular with that response...................so we clearly know no more?

Exactly this. I’ve said before but we have awful local journalists. Blackmore seems to not work all week and only appears on match day.
 

Alfie House is a total no mark and a perfect example of the dross now working in journalism. The fact he can happily post these soundbites that say absolutely F all week in week out shows how useless he is. I know managers won’t reveal confidential information but House could at least ask whether it’s incomings or outgoings, what positions, what sort of profile we are looking for etc. You know some actual news that any self respecting reporter realises is their job. He clearly doesn’t even have an inquisitive mind which again you would think is a fundamental of journalism.

The biggest red flag these guys are useless is the ludicrous situation with Edozie. We still don’t know why he hasn’t appeared all season. Maybe ask the club? His agent? Through other contacts in the game? Some actual journalism?

[LuckyNumber7]

3 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Birmingham have just outbid Ajax for a player. £7m outlay for a club that hasn’t been in the premier league for 15 years.
 

Meanwhile at this club who were in the prem last year and who are £74m up on player trading this year there is not a single rumour or penny spent all window. Make it make sense.

I think it's mainly down to PSR, and it's precisely because Birmingham haven't been in the PL for a long time that they have the room to splurge a bit (same for Wrexham).

We on the other hand have a large squad full of players on high wages and are still owing instalments on PL transfer fees. Combined with the financial losses of relegation, we have to be very careful what we spend.

I'd rather we kept our powder dry for the summer tbh, but would like to see a striker come in on loan if we can find a suitable one.

[Turkish]

27 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

But would you spent big, just to position us to make a late charge into what is in effect 3 games of lottery?

I'd just stick to loans, they will be out there - if our recruitment is half decent.

We’ve still got 3 loan slots don’t we? That’s what I’d be doing a centre back and striker from the Premier league. There must be a few fringe players looking for game time 

[Saint Fan CaM]

Anyone who thinks Archer can perform to AA’s levels needs to seek help - he’s nowhere near IMO. And this is the dilemma - the same flaw in recruitment decisions we’ve suffered for years - we never seem to bring in a great new player without releasing another good  player. It’s a slow terminal dilution of talent and skill. We should be releasing Archer and bringing in someone better than AA and Stewart to challenge for the place in the team, even if that’s a loan.

[Turkish]

Just now, Saint Fan CaM said:

Anyone who thinks Archer can perform to AA’s levels needs to seek help - he’s nowhere near IMO. And this is the dilemma - the same flaw in recruitment decisions we’ve suffered for years - we never seem to bring in a great new player without releasing another good  player. It’s a slow terminal dilution of talent and skill. We should be releasing Archer and bringing in someone better than AA and Stewart to challenge for the place in the team, even if that’s a loan.

He’s a weird one and yet another player that looked like they had potential but had turned into an absolute cart horse since joining us. You have to wonder why it happens so often. Don’t even expect world beaters just half decent. Are we buying duffers or creating them? 

[trousers]

54 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Statistically a goal every 2 games sounds good, but in reality he goes long spells with no goals (or assists), like now. He doesn't contribute when we are struggling, but has a purple patch when we are playing well (cause and effect).

^This

It's not just about a striker's overall goal tally... unless you happen to live in a black and white world where the context behind seemingly decent stats and numbers is conveniently ignored.... It's totally reasonable to question the credentials of a striker that often goes on significant spells without scoring.... currently 10 games and counting in Armstrong's case.... Consistency is just as important a factor as proficiency. Armstrong isn't consistent enough, full stop.

Edited 4 hours ago by trousers

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

He’s a weird one and yet another player that looked like they had potential but had turned into an absolute cart horse since joining us. You have to wonder why it happens so often. Don’t even expect world beaters just half decent. Are we buying duffers or creating them? 

Difficult to tell as squad quality has deteriorated badly over the last 5 years - probably a mix of lesser skilled or unsuitable teammates and diminishing coaching quality, coupled with SR strategic dogma. Either way, we’re not scoring enough goals and Archer has not proven himself as an answer.

[bangkoksaint]

25 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Exactly this. I’ve said before but we have awful local journalists. Blackmore seems to not work all week and only appears on match day.
 

Alfie House is a total no mark and a perfect example of the dross now working in journalism. The fact he can happily post these soundbites that say absolutely F all week in week out shows how useless he is. I know managers won’t reveal confidential information but House could at least ask whether it’s incomings or outgoings, what positions, what sort of profile we are looking for etc. You know some actual news that any self respecting reporter realises is their job. He clearly doesn’t even have an inquisitive mind which again you would think is a fundamental of journalism.

The biggest red flag these guys are useless is the ludicrous situation with Edozie. We still don’t know why he hasn’t appeared all season. Maybe ask the club? His agent? Through other contacts in the game? Some actual journalism?

Think we should send them to the Glasgow school of journalism!!

[suewhistle]

or the Factless Allen school.

For primary school level language.

And short paragraphs of dross.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

What opinion of his minuses have you formed that doesn't use numbers?

His movement in the box is dogshit, he’s always waiting for the ball and never makes little runs.  His finishing is shit, misses loads of good chances.  He is shit at penalties.

I don’t need xG.  I see it most weeks at St Mary’s.

[OldNick]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I know this is outlandish but these are players I’ve bought on FIFA/FM for the 25/26 promotion push:

Viktor Johansson (GK)
Max Aarons (RB)
Charlie Cresswell (CB)
Andre Garcia (LB)
James Ward-Prowse (CM, loan)
Jesuran Rak-Sakyi (RW, loan)
Evan Ferguson

I’d argue that’s a better transfer window than Sport Republic’s. 😂

At least when I have five minutes to play a game it makes me feel better about the shitshow in real life. 😂

Arevyou part of our recruitment team? As the goalkeeper is out for 6 months and so being part of that team would add up 😀

Edited 3 hours ago by OldNick

[ally_uk]

I'd use two loans

Striker and Midfielder 

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

42 minutes ago, Turkish said:

He’s a weird one and yet another player that looked like they had potential but had turned into an absolute cart horse since joining us. You have to wonder why it happens so often. Don’t even expect world beaters just half decent. Are we buying duffers or creating them? 

Both I think. Eg Downes was a duffer from day 1 but really Archer should be doing fine at this level and probably will do so when he inevitably leaves for someone like sheff Utd / stoke

[tdmickey3]

2 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

I'd use two loans

Striker and Midfielder 

I would want a striker and manager

[saintant]

58 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

I think it's mainly down to PSR, and it's precisely because Birmingham haven't been in the PL for a long time that they have the room to splurge a bit (same for Wrexham).

We on the other hand have a large squad full of players on high wages and are still owing instalments on PL transfer fees. Combined with the financial losses of relegation, we have to be very careful what we spend.

I'd rather we kept our powder dry for the summer tbh, but would like to see a striker come in on loan if we can find a suitable one.

Maybe I don't understand PSR but didn't we make a substantial net profit on player trading last summer? I think it was in excess of £60 million.

[skintsaint]

6 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

I would want a striker and manager

Loan a manager? Why not...

[saintant]

46 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Difficult to tell as squad quality has deteriorated badly over the last 5 years - probably a mix of lesser skilled or unsuitable teammates and diminishing coaching quality, coupled with SR strategic dogma. Either way, we’re not scoring enough goals and Archer has not proven himself as an answer.

Add the fact that we appear to have fitness issues at the football club which will soon manifest in any new signings.

[UpweySaint]

14 minutes ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Both I think. Eg Downes was a duffer from day 1 but really Archer should be doing fine at this level and probably will do so when he inevitably leaves for someone like sheff Utd / stoke

Archer is an odd one. He seemed like the wrong profile of player for us when we signed but he had shown an ability to finish and he play off the shoulder so possibly gave a different option. He’s never really got going or had much of a run but rarely shown enough in cameos to push to be the main man. The turmoil we have been in can’t help player development mind. It’s been chaotic and miserable. No chance we recoup what we paid but I wouldn’t be sad to see Archer move on - even if he kicks on elsewhere I just don’t see it happening for him here.

[SaintLondon]

Ipswich in for Piroe on a permanent deal 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

He is out of his depth in the Premier League. But dismissing him in the Championship is ridiculous.

He is the current 2nd top scorer in the league! He was also the 2nd top scorer in his last full Championship season.

79 goals in his last 177 Championship games (5 seasons). Roughly a goal just over every two games is a very good record in the Championship.

Load of old pony. 
 

If I scored 15 goals for Manchester City, would that be “a very good record”, or should I have scored 30. People moan about Tonda only producing decent performances in a small number of games, well “Arma” is exactly the same this season. He was pony last season, and he’s been pony the majority of this season. If we had a very good championship striker Sunday, we’d have won. I don’t need XG to see that. 

[Chez]

4 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Birmingham have just outbid Ajax for a player. £7m outlay for a club that hasn’t been in the premier league for 15 years.

Meanwhile at this club who were in the prem last year and who are £74m up on player trading this year there is not a single rumour or penny spent all window. Make it make sense.

We spent a sizeable amount of money the previous summer. If we had retained our PL status, we could have covered that outlay, but we didn't. This summer we have obviously balanced the books somewhat. By my fag packet maths, our player trading over the last two years evens out, but without player trading, SFC has made £25m and £35m in annual losses according the accounts.

The massive outlay in the 22/23 season plus relegation crippled us and the wage bill we took down the championship will also have been a factor. Indeed, the owner had to inject £63m just to balance the books after the 2023 January window failure. It's worth noting that we haven't paid down the loan we took out during COVID (we paid some off then took another loan out), so there are debts to be paid too. It's all in the accounts, admittedly you never get a really up to date picture as they come out about 8 months after the year has closed.

Birmingham have spent about £40m NET over the last two seasons, so if you are just using player trading as the measure, then it looks like their owners are doing more. They of course were in a real mess before Wagner and SCL acquired them, but they didn't have a monstrous wage bill dragging them down. I do know their transfers have been funded by a loan from the owner's parent company, which is charging the club 11% interest. By contrast, Dragon's capital injection was turned into shares, so isn't a company debt.

Returning to your point about us not spending in this window, which is a valid gripe, I imagine they have been looking, but the squad is pretty bloated and they may see value in keeping their powder dry until the summer. For me, if we could loan out Archer, Edozie and Aribo and bring in say Lascelles and another attacking option on loan, that would make sense.

[Chez]

3 hours ago, DT said:

Could a lack of spending this window indicate that SR are throwing in the towel and preparing to sell up while they can?

Maybe, but it might indicate they haven't been able to find better than they have got within their budget. Alternatively it might indicate they think we already have the players that can make a push for the play offs or it might indicate they don't want to throw more money at this season and are saving it till next summer. Who knows.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I don’t think Adam Armstrong will leave.

There’s literally been one “report” of a link to Wrexham and nothing more than that.

Lazy journalism.

I wouldn't have thought we would sell in this window, but there is 18 months left of his deal so it's around the time that talks between club and agent, other club and agent start happening. SFC wont want him leaving for nothing. He will want a new contract. Other clubs will see an opportuntty on the horizon  etc.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

We’ve still got 3 loan slots don’t we? That’s what I’d be doing a centre back and striker from the Premier league. There must be a few fringe players looking for game time 

Me to. Lascelles perhaps. I saw Amas, Collyer, Fer Lopez, Piroe, Fofana all mentioned on a Skysports article. 

I thought championship clubs could loan as many as they liked, but only have 5 in a match day squad.

[Miltonaggro]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Playoffs is still there for someone to make a late charge IMO, as unlikely as it is. 

But I've said the same thing, or they're have had a striker through the door for the 1st game in Jan.

Think they've settled for staying up, and go again next season. Big risk

Think we are done with that notion now, would have realistically taken getting a new manager in during December followed by a busy proactive window.

[SaintLondon]

Apparently Armstrong to Boro according to some local hack on Twitter - it would make sense from a geographical POV

[swedish dave]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I know this is outlandish but these are players I’ve bought on FIFA/FM for the 25/26 promotion push:

Viktor Johansson (GK)
Max Aarons (RB)
Charlie Cresswell (CB)
Andre Garcia (LB)
James Ward-Prowse (CM, loan)
Jesuran Rak-Sakyi (RW, loan)
Evan Ferguson

I’d argue that’s a better transfer window than Sport Republic’s. 😂

At least when I have five minutes to play a game it makes me feel better about the shitshow in real life. 😂

Even if you ignored the cost of all those transfer / loan fees....what about their salaries?

we are overloaded with many players (who don't play), and our salary costs so high, we were 

second only  to Leicester - and they are about to be fined and forced to take a points deduction.

Good luck their next manager - he'll need it.

Edited 2 hours ago by swedish dave

[Chez]

41 minutes ago, saintant said:

Maybe I don't understand PSR but didn't we make a substantial net profit on player trading last summer? I think it was in excess of £60 million.

Maybe we did, but we didn't make a player trading profit the summer before.

The player trading roughly evens itself out over the course of several years, but outside of that, the club has been losing money each year (for the last three or four years) due to the expenditure exceeding income. It will be interesting to see the 2025 accounts in a few months time. 

[SWLondon Saint]

58 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

His movement in the box is dogshit, he’s always waiting for the ball and never makes little runs.  His finishing is shit, misses loads of good chances.  He is shit at penalties.

I don’t need xG.  I see it most weeks at St Mary’s.

I'm with you on his movement, Stewart is way better at creating a threat from crosses and even Archer who scored a good goal just by getting ahead of the defender against Brum I think.

@coalman said a lot of the stuff I wish I could've explained as well about xG - the thing that gets me, is for example with that 1st chance on Sunday - what xG doesn't and can't look at is how much better the chance would have been if he'd taken it earlier as lots have said. Or how about if someone takes a really low % shot from a bizarre angle but it deflects in off a defender? That's gonna look to the stats like he's a brilliant finisher as he beat the xG by so much but anyone who sees it knows it's bollocks. I bet the clubs who are making the data work for them like B'muff aren't using x -effing- G as their main guide.

[Chez]

38 minutes ago, SaintLondon said:

Ipswich in for Piroe on a permanent deal 

They're a more attractive option than us, assuming we were interested.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

53 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

I would want a striker and manager

 

47 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Loan a manager? Why not...

"Right Pep," says Rasmus, adjusting the pile of unsold books on his desk. "Here's the system and tactics we need from you. Once you've learned those, I'll take you down to the crèche to meet your backroom team."

[hypochondriac]

People always say that no one would sign for us at this point but personally I think that's bollocks. Yes we will lose out on some players but in the summer the likes of Derby, Watford and Milwall made some decent signings and no one would be saying they were or are miles more attractive than us. We should have the resources to bring in one or two players who will improve us as a team. 

[Chez]

41 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

Archer is an odd one. He seemed like the wrong profile of player for us when we signed but he had shown an ability to finish and he play off the shoulder so possibly gave a different option. He’s never really got going or had much of a run but rarely shown enough in cameos to push to be the main man. The turmoil we have been in can’t help player development mind. It’s been chaotic and miserable. No chance we recoup what we paid but I wouldn’t be sad to see Archer move on - even if he kicks on elsewhere I just don’t see it happening for him here.

I've watched most of his games for us and I genuinely don't know if he is any good or not. He does some good stuff and then some bad stuff all in the space of a few minutes. I see him hold the ball up well one second and then fail to hold it up when we need him to the next. I see him finish well and then see him snatch at a shot. I see him chase hard, but then see him standing around doing nothing. 

Everyone talks abut hm needing a partner up front. Did he have one at Preston and Boro when scoring championship goals? 

Strange signing in the first place and strange that we didn't sell to Leeds (unless they were offering bobbins of course).

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, SWLondon Saint said:

I'm with you on his movement, Stewart is way better at creating a threat from crosses and even Archer who scored a good goal just by getting ahead of the defender against Brum I think.

AA just doesn't look to get in the six yard box enough. He hangs back waiting for the cut back, which works sometimes of course, but if you only have one striker, he has to be getting into the box more.

[Turkish]

20 minutes ago, Chez said:

Me to. Lascelles perhaps. I saw Amas, Collyer, Fer Lopez, Piroe, Fofana all mentioned on a Skysports article. 

I thought championship clubs could loan as many as they liked, but only have 5 in a match day squad.

Lascelles would be great. Striker i dont know really, ideally what we want is a 6 foot 4, tall, mobile striker but doesn't everyone, lol. 

[OldNick]

18 minutes ago, Chez said:

They're a more attractive option than us, assuming we were interested.

Ipswich really have a forward thinking board. Their first thought is not about developing to make money but to actually try and be successful, this is turn increases the clubs revenue stream. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Ipswich really have a forward thinking board. Their first thought is not about developing to make money but to actually try and be successful, this is turn increases the clubs revenue stream. 

Posts like that are blocked by SR's intranet. 🙂

[Appy]

If Boro or Wrexham or anyone for that matter offer us £15m for Armstrong we’d be mad to turn it down. 
 

With that caveat we get someone of quality in by Monday. 
 

Yes, a big caveat. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

I think the bits that some always seem to forget is that players in their latter years if they have family are unlikely to relocate on the long term.

For example, Lascelles of Newcastle, as decent as he would be is not going to move six hours south away from his family at this point in his career.

[Fabrice29]

2 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

The biggest red flag these guys are useless is the ludicrous situation with Edozie. We still don’t know why he hasn’t appeared all season. Maybe ask the club? His agent? Through other contacts in the game? Some actual journalism?

Don’t necessarily disagree about the quality of the journalism but just on Edozie, they have absolutely asked about it previously. You could argue more could be done but I think it’s quite clear the club and Edozie both don’t want it out there especially whilst trying to sell him. I suspect finding out is probably quite easy but reporting it against either sides will is probably the challenge. I also don’t think the answer is going to be much more juicy than ‘he doesn’t want to play because he nearly left last summer and neither the club or him want him injured’

[Willo of Whiteley]

2 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

The biggest red flag these guys are useless is the ludicrous situation with Edozie. We still don’t know why he hasn’t appeared all season. Maybe ask the club? His agent? Through other contacts in the game? Some actual journalism?

So all season we were told it was injury related.

One solo source recently said he’d be fine all season - two sides here, 1) it’s complete bollocks and he has been injured, and 2) it’s true.

If it’s complete bollocks then it says it all about the one source that suggested it.

If it’s two, then why would the club hide this?
Is he frozen out because he didn’t want to be here?
Is he frozen out because there are appearance fees/clauses if he was played more?
Have the head coaches been told not to play him?
Does he want out?
Is he a trouble maker?
Has he got an attitude problem?

If it’s the last couple of example, why would you want a rotten apple near the squad?

Also if you’re looking to move someone on would you want to advertise that rotten apple, makes him less appealing to prospective clubs if you want to get him off the wage bill.

His Saints career is done, he’s clearly not in the plans so the best thing to do is for both parties to move on now, but it’s worth bearing in mind some of the questions above.

[Saint NL]

Bit of a downgrade for him, but I'm sure he'll get a decent pay rise 

[Harry_SFC]

2 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

His movement in the box is dogshit, he’s always waiting for the ball and never makes little runs.  His finishing is shit, misses loads of good chances.  He is shit at penalties.

I don’t need xG.  I see it most weeks at St Mary’s.

I'm glad someone else has mentioned his movement in the box. It's terrible. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

3 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Anyone who thinks Archer can perform to AA’s levels needs to seek help - he’s nowhere near IMO. And this is the dilemma - the same flaw in recruitment decisions we’ve suffered for years - we never seem to bring in a great new player without releasing another good  player. It’s a slow terminal dilution of talent and skill. We should be releasing Archer and bringing in someone better than AA and Stewart to challenge for the place in the team, even if that’s a loan.

I think archer is actually a lot better then what we have seen of him. His finishing and technique is better then AA. His spell at boro showed he can be prolific at championship level but with us he just gets the odd start here n there or his minutes are coming from the bench . If he was at a club that’s starting him every week he will score goals 

[pimpin4rizeal]

1 hour ago, Appy said:

If Boro or Wrexham or anyone for that matter offer us £15m for Armstrong we’d be mad to turn it down. 
 

With that caveat we get someone of quality in by Monday. 
 

Yes, a big caveat. 

Is 15m really that much money for a 20  goal a season championship striker ? AA is pretty much guaranteed goals at this level and is versatile enough to play wide too and still score 20 a season from there ..

it’s a new level of stupid if we let him go and would be writing off the season for a poxy 15 million