Summer Transfer Window 2026

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Scienza and Dobbin are both wingers really - more than No. 10s 

We seem to be collected left sided players. Perhaps if/when BBD goes to Derby and Edozie goes to Belgium that will free up wages for another more central attacking player? or Maybe Tonda will just use what he have as he likes a small squad.

[Saint Matty 76]

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

[Miltonaggro]

I think that if the Benfica interest has done the job of unsettling Harwood-Bellis, the mid to lower Prem suitors will begin to appear by the end of this week.  Playing in the Portugese league is akin to joining Celtic or Rangers with better weather and more English speakers, and can't see him there at this stage of his career (a la Janny B).

[Turkish]

22 hours ago, Turkish said:

To us 

 

23 hours ago, Bob60 said:

Imran Louza left out of squad v Southampton and understood to be set for Watford exit after reiterating desire to leave.

 

2 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

Probably saw my post on here about it yesterday 

#CoT #stillfirstwithallthenews

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

I'd rather we signed a winner to be honest...

[Miltonaggro]

5 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

Perennial Louza that bloke!

[trousers]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

My point wasn’t about the circumstances of Charles leaving. It was that some said that the Downes/Bragg pairing would be fine.

 

1 hour ago, UpweySaint said:

I don’t recall anyone saying that but could be wrong. I don’t fancy trawling back through and I imagine you don’t either!

In certain circumstances I expect Downes and Bragg could work but it’s not ideal and shouldn’t be the default pairing - I expect most can agree ok that.

According to AI 'research' (yeah, pinch of salt etc), Downes and Bragg only spent 1 minute (excluding injury time) on the pitch together during our unbeaten run in the second half of last season.... so, yep, its certainly not a pairing that Eckert would call upon out of choice vs necessity.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by trousers

[chownie20]

35 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Translation:

🚨 Benfica, VERY close to reaching an agreement with Southampton for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

🤝 ACTIVE negotiations for 20M€.

✅ Player has given the green light to the transfer.

Why would we sell him at a loss? We paid £20m no?

[tdmickey3]

7 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

Great idea, a player who just wants to train but not play while pushing for a move, just what we need

[goodymatt]

Decent player and seen as one of the best in his position by many of the championship ‘experts’. If we really are interested, hopefully we don’t Louz out on him to the Middle East money.

[goodymatt]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

Great idea, a player who just wants to train but not play while pushing for a move, just what we need

Sky commentators were saying yesterday that this was a decision by their manager. He said he wanted to leave and their manager took the call to make him train on his own and focus on the players that want to be there.

Not really any different to us ring fencing players for sale tbf. 

 

[Saint Matty 76]

7g 9a from midfield last year are very good numbers. I remember him being good at SMS as well.

Adds somebody who can hit a pass out of nowhere as we only really have (had?) THB who can do that from deep.

[Fabrice29]

18 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

MLG's timing defending SaintsExtra is incredible to be fair  

[HarvSFC]

8 minutes ago, trousers said:

 

According to AI 'research' (yeah, pinch of salt etc), Downes and Bragg only spent 1 minute (excluding injury time) on the pitch together during our unbeaten run in the second half of last season.... so, yep, its certainly not a pairing that Eckert would call upon out of choice vs necessity.

 

Just had a look at this from January, league only. And it's not entirely wrong. Looked at the matches Bragg started and they did both start and play 67 minutes of our win against Coventry in March. Other than that, they didn't actually play together. Even against Arsenal and City in the cup, Bragg was paired with Jander.

In addition to this, Bragg did only start 4 league games after January when we went on the run. I think my memory has been skewed a bit as I thought he played more. 

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

7g 9a from midfield last year are very good numbers. I remember him being good at SMS as well.

Adds somebody who can hit a pass out of nowhere as we only really have (had?) THB who can do that from deep.

sweet left foot on him.

[saintant]

25 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

Good player who would fit our style. Would be good alongside Downes or Jander with Azaz in front. He can spot mid/long range passes and execute them superbly. Good on corners and free kicks. Get him signed.

[Saint86]

57 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Translation:

🚨 Benfica, VERY close to reaching an agreement with Southampton for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

🤝 ACTIVE negotiations for 20M€.

✅ Player has given the green light to the transfer.

Translation:

Massive load of horseshit at £17M.

 

Are benfica struggling with their fans or something? There is no way they are signing harwood bellis for less than £20M + add ons, I don't think saints sell him for £25M + add ons tbh.

Edited 5 hours ago by Saint86

[DrSuess1979]

28 minutes ago, chownie20 said:

Why would we sell him at a loss? We paid £20m no?

And don’t Man city have a sell on clause as well ? 

[Scummer]

1 minute ago, DrSuess1979 said:

And don’t Man city have a sell on clause as well ? 

Sell ons are normally a percentage of profit, so if we sell for less than we paid I don't think we'd owe city anything. I still can't see why we'd sell him for less than £25m though

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, DrSuess1979 said:

And don’t Man city have a sell on clause as well ? 

If we sold him at a loss Man City don't get their clause activated as it'll be on a % of profit.

Edited 5 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, DrSuess1979 said:

And don’t Man city have a sell on clause as well ? 

rumoured to be 25% on any profit above the £20m

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[Pilchards]

Makes me think the only reason Stephen’s has played these last two games is because you can hardly give the captaincy to THB who wants out.

It’s time to bring in a commanding defender to sort out the CB’s, make Manning captain and get Wood back in the team.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Pilchards

[Oh no Mick Mills]

46 minutes ago, trousers said:

 

According to AI 'research' (yeah, pinch of salt etc), Downes and Bragg only spent 1 minute (excluding injury time) on the pitch together during our unbeaten run in the second half of last season.... so, yep, its certainly not a pairing that Eckert would call upon out of choice vs necessity.

 

 

[goodymatt]

 

[goodymatt]

 

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Makes me think the only reason Stephen’s has played these last two games is because you can hardly give the captaincy to THB who wants out.

 

don't be silly.  It's not cricket. It matters little who is the skipper. Players like Downes, Manning, Perez, Larin...could all be given the captaincy and no one would quibble. They toss a coin and wear an armband... 

[Disco Stu]

In this market, Harwood-Bellis is a £30m player. Probably a top 3 centre half in the division, an England international(ish), 2 years left on his deal and at a good age to be heading into the peak of his career. He's invaluable to our team, both as a key player and a leader.

Since signing him for £20m, his value hasn't gone down. Harwood-Bellis understands this.

If we sell in the English market, his nationality means he comes at a premium. I think he either gets bought by a Premier League club or he stays. If Benfica want to break their transfer record to sign him then okay he'll likely go, but they're currently not even in the same ballpark right now for us to consider it.

How likely is it really that they'll break their transfer record for him?

[Matthew Le God]

11 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Makes me think the only reason Stephen’s has played these last two games is because you can hardly give the captaincy to THB who wants out.

It’s time to bring in a commanding defender to sort out the CB’s, make Manning captain and get Wood back in the time.

 

The club listed Flynn Downes as vice captain last season

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

The blades don't have two brass farthings to rub together, so a £4m price tag still may be problematic.

[Saint86]

6 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

Could do worse than get him back on a free with Charles gone 😆

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

How likely is it really that they'll break their transfer record for him?

they spent £40m on Enzo a few years back, so they won't need to.

[Saint86]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

The blades don't have two brass farthings to rub together, so a £4m price tag still may be problematic.

Regardless, for £4M we should be all over it 🤷

[Saintinnot]

18 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Makes me think the only reason Stephen’s has played these last two games is because you can hardly give the captaincy to THB who wants out.

It’s time to bring in a commanding defender to sort out the CB’s, make Manning captain and get Wood back in the time.

 

Are you taking the piss? Manning as captain -  Mr 'I've just given the ball away so going to just jog back' 

[Disco Stu]

12 minutes ago, Chez said:

they spent £40m on Enzo a few years back, so they won't need to.

Their transfer record for a defender is Otamendi for £13m. If they spend over double that on a worse, albeit younger player, fair enough.

Benfica have made a £55m profit this summer, including selling a right back to Newcastle for £30m so I hope we stay firm on the price.

Edited 4 hours ago by Disco Stu

[Paul_B]

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

Translation:

🚨 Benfica, VERY close to reaching an agreement with Southampton for Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

🤝 ACTIVE negotiations for 20M€.

✅ Player has given the green light to the transfer.

They were prepared to pay £30mil but then saw his absolute shocker of a miss yesterday!

[Pilchards]

6 minutes ago, Saintinnot said:

Are you taking the piss? Manning as captain -  Mr 'I've just given the ball away so going to just jog back' 

So give it to the vice captain Downes.

‘Hey everyone let’s kick the shit out of the opposition every time and when someone pushes you then rare up to their face and get booked.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE IS WE LACK A DECENT CAPTAIN.

 

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

SaintsExtra transition into becoming an ITK?

 

I’d rather we signed someone that didn’t throw their toys out the pram.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

With THB expressing his desire to leave that's now two new CB's we need. 

A CB should have been top priority this summer. Now we need 2. 

[SNSUN]

2 minutes ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

With THB expressing his desire to leave that's now two new CB's we need. 

A CB should have been top priority this summer. Now we need 2. 

SR won't fund an upgrade on Stephens or Wood. We'll bring in one CB and that's if THB goes. Same with CM - we should be going out and trying to sign someone as good, or better than, Downes and Jander - that way if we lose Jander late in the window we don't notice too much of a dip while we then have to bring in ANOTHER CM to cover his sale.

Personally, and hypothetically, if the window slammed shut now, I'd be pretty happy with the squad. I'm not looking forward to these last 2 weeks. 

[tdmickey3]

18 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

SR won't fund an upgrade on Stephens or Wood. We'll bring in one CB and that's if THB goes. Same with CM - we should be going out and trying to sign someone as good, or better than, Downes and Jander - that way if we lose Jander late in the window we don't notice too much of a dip while we then have to bring in ANOTHER CM to cover his sale.

Personally, and hypothetically, if the window slammed shut now, I'd be pretty happy with the squad. I'm not looking forward to these last 2 weeks. 

Sadly this is true right now, but it should have happened years ago, just one of the poor decisions made by SR

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 hour ago, Pilchards said:

Makes me think the only reason Stephen’s has played these last two games is because you can hardly give the captaincy to THB who wants out.

It’s time to bring in a commanding defender to sort out the CB’s, make Manning captain and get Wood back in the team.

 

Holy shit, Wood is no better than Stephens, Would he get into the starting 11 of any other team seriously looking to be promoted?

[ally_uk]

Stephens should of been upgraded 3 seasons ago.

We need a Wanyama type defensive mid who can play alongside either Downes or Jander, No nonsense tough tackling leader with a bit of physical presence about him.

If THB is off again new CB that lad at Feynoord will do.

Also if we can do something in the loan market and bring in a Premier league CB who is out of favour and better than Stephens I'd do that. Anyone at Chelsea we could loan ? They have shitloads of players... 

How many domestic loans can we have? I'd still be tempted to shift Archer, Diaz and Downs and get someone in similar to Larin to rotate. 

[Chez]

23 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

 

How many domestic loans can we have? 

as many as you want, but only 5 loanees can be named in a match day squad.

[qwertyell]

We needed an upgrade on Stephens to partner Harwood-Bellis, but the likelihood is we'll end up with a downgrade on Harwood-Bellis to partner Stephens.

All very Sainsty. 

 

[leesaint88]

8 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

We needed an upgrade on Stephens to partner Harwood-Bellis, but the likelihood is we'll end up with a downgrade on Harwood-Bellis to partner Stephens.

All very Sainsty. 

 

Likely, although Ahmedhodžić is certainly a decent centre back and could do a job to fill the gap left by THB. Ideally, those two together would be solid. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Has Taylor Hardwood-Bellis expressed his desire to leave?

The Portuguese "The Sun" equivalent doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If he's here come September - amazing!
If he is sold - then SR have one hell of a job on their hands to replace him and hope we get promoted.

[Toussaint]

4 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Has Taylor Hardwood-Bellis expressed his desire to leave?

The Portuguese "The Sun" equivalent doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If he's here come September - amazing!
If he is sold - then SR have one hell of a job on their hands to replace him and hope we get promoted.

He’s hardly likely to announce it. 

[CB Fry]

26 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Has Taylor Hardwood-Bellis expressed his desire to leave?

The Portuguese "The Sun" equivalent doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If he's here come September - amazing!
If he is sold - then SR have one hell of a job on their hands to replace him and hope we get promoted.

Absolutely breathtaking that in every window you get posts like this that show no learning or understanding of any transfer window that has ever happened before.

[Turkish]

Two articles in the echo today about young midfielders wanting first team football 

O’Brien-Whitmarsh attracting attention from clubs and Sesay saying he’s ready for it either hear or somewhere else

seems like a bit more discontent behind the scenes than we’ve been lead to believe