Summer Transfer Window 2026

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 hour ago, benjii said:

Not against JWP at all but let's also cut to the chase....

we need a big black bloke as well.

We would have 3 blonde son-in-laws and a blonde wrong-un in midfield this is true

...but collectively they have nice hair 🙂

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, Yozzman said:

Falchener came off after 60 minutes last night. Injured or protecting the £8M transfer?

They were leading 5-3 on aggregate at that point, which seems too tight to protect your guy, but not sure there was an injury. Viking qualification for CL means they can fend off bids now.

[Patches O Houlihan]

27 minutes ago, pingpong said:

He played for us in the championship for a couple of games after relegation, and his last touch for us was a smart assist...

 

Is JWP an upgrade on Smallbone who was at the heart of our midfield that year for promotion - fuck yes.

[Is Peretz better than Baz?! Watching that brought me right back - I'm still traumatised by watching that intrinsically poor positioning so he is never in the right place and can never see the shot being lined up]

[Gloucester Saint]

9 hours ago, Saint Pete said:

I don't think JWP is the perfect profile of midfielder that we need to replace Charles, but neither do I think that he has nothing to offer us in the Championship. He is a quality player despite the prejudices of some on here and I don't think we can be so dismissive of quality players in the position we are in. Would be glad if he rejoined us on a loan deal. 

Stop posting sensible, balanced things.

Didn’t you realise in SWF that you must take a side and defend it vigorously! 😉 

[Matthew Le God]

16 minutes ago, Chez said:

Viking qualification for CL means they can fend off bids now.

We'd offer him a massive wage increase.

[Patches O Houlihan]

Ugly Inside on JWP suggests: 

"He will bring versatility to the squad as he is able to play either in midfield or at right back, hence the rumour that Mads Roerslev may be allowed to leave...
...I am told that it is a free transfer, West Ham are willing to terminate his contract in order to get his not insubstantial salary off the books and that he is taking a big drop in wages to get the deal done.

I am told that this deal is quite near completion, but as with all transfers sometimes they don't get over the line for one reason or another."

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/66691/

I would love to have someone bossing the midfield with the build, speed and skill of Virgil van Dijk in his prime - but do we really think that player is available and signing for us after Thursday 27th August... 

[Willo of Whiteley]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

That's the claim.

So you're basically going down the assumption that that is bullshit and he has refused to play? If not then what point are you trying to make?

 

[MarkSFC]

4 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Ugly Inside on JWP suggests: 

"He will bring versatility to the squad as he is able to play either in midfield or at right back, hence the rumour that Mads Roerslev may be allowed to leave...
...I am told that it is a free transfer, West Ham are willing to terminate his contract in order to get his not insubstantial salary off the books and that he is taking a big drop in wages to get the deal done.

I am told that this deal is quite near completion, but as with all transfers sometimes they don't get over the line for one reason or another."

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/66691/

I would love to have someone bossing the midfield with the build, speed and skill of Virgil van Dijk in his prime - but do we really think that player is available and signing for us after Thursday 27th August... 

VVD in midfield🤔🤔🤔

[Willo of Whiteley]

The Ugly Inside is hardly a verified source. "I am told". Fucking LOL!

Shout out to Alex Crooks who tweeted the "exclusive" of JWP after everyone else had done so. Every effort to try and look vaguely credible I suppose. 🤣

I'll be glad when the transfer window is over, it's like showbiz now....

On a side note:
The whole transfer window is mad; and is continuing to get worse and worse every season.

FFP, overinflated fees, lots of clubs clearly finding loopholes and buying and selling high from each other, see Chelsea and Aston Villa for example.
There is no way Garnacho is worth more than a few quid, just because he procalimed to be the next Ronaldo and had a stupid haircut.
Same for Nicolas Jackson, a striker that has hit the net less often than Jamie Carragher scoring an own goal.

It seriously needs investigating. Money will implode certainly the top league eventually.

 

[Mr Brightside]

42 minutes ago, Chez said:

They were leading 5-3 on aggregate at that point, which seems too tight to protect your guy, but not sure there was an injury. Viking qualification for CL means they can fend off bids now.

Watched some of the game. When he came off commentator said the guy coming on was his replacement (forward thinking, Saints take note) and may be his last game as heavily linked with a move to Wrexham. 
Didn’t look injured. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Mr Brightside

[Chez]

18 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

We'd offer him a massive wage increase.

I was thinking that if he stayed, Viking performed well in the CL, then he might get a much bigger move next summer. Quite a few Bodo/Glimt players must have got great moves to big clubs after their success last year. When I checked, the only player that did (so far) was Kasper Hogh to Celtic for about £11m. Bigger, obviously, but not a club in one of the big five leagues. So maybe a £10m move to Saints isn't unattractive for all parties. Wrexham may have something to say about it mind.

[OldNick]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

I was thinking that if he stayed, Viking performed well in the CL, then he might get a much bigger move next summer. Quite a few Bodo/Glimt players must have got great moves to big clubs after their success last year. When I checked, the only player that did (so far) was Kasper Hogh to Celtic for about £11m. Bigger, obviously, but not a club in one of the big five leagues. So maybe a £10m move to Saints isn't unattractive for all parties. Wrexham may have something to say about it mind.

I was surprised Hogh was quite a low fee,but he may turn out to be rubbish. Was he the Bodo player who scored all the goals in the CL last season? I dont follow such football

[Mr Saints]

Lallana, Walcott, Romeu were all on their last legs. You'd hope JWP, at 31, would not be.

He would definitely make us stronger, but if Jander goes we'll need another new face in there.

[Chez]

17 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Ugly Inside on JWP suggests: 

"He will bring versatility to the squad as he is able to play either in midfield or at right back, hence the rumour that Mads Roerslev may be allowed to leave...
...I am told that it is a free transfer, West Ham are willing to terminate his contract in order to get his not insubstantial salary off the books and that he is taking a big drop in wages to get the deal done.

I am told that this deal is quite near completion, but as with all transfers sometimes they don't get over the line for one reason or another."

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/66691/

I would love to have someone bossing the midfield with the build, speed and skill of Virgil van Dijk in his prime - but do we really think that player is available and signing for us after Thursday 27th August... 

They sound like they are ITK.

have to ask, why would JWP accept a termination of his contract...unless they are paying him sum that matches the  difference in wages between whatever his new club can afford in wages and what they would have had to pay. 

[OldNick]

10 hours ago, Dan Johnson said:

love for this club than we could hope for. 
 

 

 

And a Pompey season ticket holder of course but apart from that. Im only kidding on that, he genuinely does care for Saints. If the club think we can afford him then I suppose I should accept it, but I was hoping for a big strong mobile and athletic midfielder. 

[OldNick]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

They sound like they are ITK.

have to ask, why would JWP accept a termination of his contract...unless they are paying him sum that matches the  difference in wages between whatever his new club can afford in wages and what they would have had to pay. 

Would it be a couple of million signing on fee?

[MarkSFC]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

They sound like they are ITK.

have to ask, why would JWP accept a termination of his contract...

Maybe hes just had enough of being there and wants 'to come home' so to speak and just play some bloody football!

[LeBizzier69]

4 minutes ago, Mr Saints said:

Lallana, Walcott, Romeu were all on their last legs. You'd hope JWP, at 31, would not be.

He would definitely make us stronger, but if Jander goes we'll need another new face in there.

Absolutely. This signing would be nothing like those three especially Romeu and Lallana. He’s not old, he’s always been an impeccable pro’ (so we hear), never really had fitness issues (I know he’s a couple of years older)….but had a good engine, a good leader and we’d have another excellent dead ball / set piece specialist. 
If the figures work why not?! 

[SaintNewForest]

17 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

 

Shout out to Alex Crooks who tweeted the "exclusive" of JWP after everyone else had done so. Every effort to try and look vaguely credible I suppose. 🤣

 

He did the same last week, after Alfie at the Echo had posted an exclusive transfer update and Crook regurgitated it all as his own exclusive 🤣

He'll never top the Charlie Austin rumour though; that was gold. 

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Same for Nicolas Jackson, a striker that has hit the net less often than Jamie Carragher scoring an own goal.

I have no issues with then spending £35m on Diouf, who played well for West Ham last season, but if Villa are willing to fork out £65m for Jackson, then it's not surprising we are apparently holding firm on the THB price. 

[Pwoite]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

The big questions would be over how much of our wage / transfer budget is he going to use up and who would it stop us signing as a result. If you're spending big bucks either on salary or transfer then you want someone who is going to slot straight into the team.

This really isn’t a problem. He’s on big money, comparatively, now, but out of contract in the summer. I three year deal, spreading wages, bonus for promotion, payoff from WHU for early cancellation of contract, and everyone would be happy.

Do we have better options? Possibly. Would the risks be greater? Definitely. 

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Would it be a couple of million signing on fee?

My guesswork and fag packet maths suggests he'd be £1.5m light on this year, but slightly offset by getting an extra two years in decent wages at our place (assuming a 3 year deal). 

I'm surprised we are not just loaning him with West Ham paying a chunk of this wages. Who knows? Maybe that will be what happens should this move even be real. 

[Chez]

32 minutes ago, OldNick said:

I was surprised Hogh was quite a low fee,but he may turn out to be rubbish. Was he the Bodo player who scored all the goals in the CL last season? I dont follow such football

Yes he was. He started pretty well scoring a hatrick on his Celtic debut, but time will tell if he is the real deal.

[franniesTache]

Ward-Prowse is a skate cunt who's well past his best and nothing like the kind of player we need right now, he's too slow, has barely played recently and will force us back to death by passing.

It's pure nostalgia signing, and like Romeo will be a massive failure and waste of money.

[Chez]

54 minutes ago, MarkSFC said:

Maybe hes just had enough of being there and wants 'to come home' so to speak and just play some bloody football!

Yep. Players want to be wanted. Who'd want to spend every working day under a manager that didn't rate you or want you.  That said, not many players walk away from lucrative contracts. One way or the other the agent will ensure any difference in wage (for this year) will be covered by one of the parties.

Edited 1 hour ago by Chez

[Pilchards]

So the latest is 

CB no 1 - had his medical (news later today)

CB no 2 - Fee accepted from Viking and deal happening in the next few days. 🙏

CM - JWP coming in as captain and filling the Charles role.

RB - Can be covered by JWP

CF - Probably throwing more bonuses at Ratkov as he really is a good choice for us.

RW or LW - Hoping we have a nippy one lined up as Edozie is not doing it.

OUTS

THB, Edozie, BBD, Archer and Quarshie on loan.

STAYING 

Jander, no way is he going as Scienza and him have been told one more year before we think about selling you. You signed the contract and stop sulking.

[Chez]

11 hours ago, saintant said:

Nobody hates him

 Who has said they hate JWP? Nobody.

11 hours ago, saintant said:

Hate is the wrong choice of word imo.

3 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

Ward-Prowse is a skate cunt 

yeah, skate c**t appears to be the more appropriate turn of phrase 😉

[Ted Bates Statue]

52 minutes ago, MarkSFC said:

VVD in midfield🤔🤔🤔

It's been a while since we talked about how our defenders could do a job for us in midfield... perhaps Jack Stephens could provide cover for us there if he's no longer going to be first choice in defence?  I seem to remember that theory was floated a couple of times on here.

[saintwbu]

JWP played 20 games last season and 26 the one before, has also come on in 2 of the 4 games so far this season. People act like he’s been sat at home doing nothing for 2 years. 

[sadoldgit]

This is a strange place. When Charles went some were saying that we wouldn’t miss him as he didn’t play much last season and he was behind Downes and Jander anyway. Now a seasoned pro with bags of EPL experience is not good enough to take his place? 
If the finances work it is a no brainer to bring JWP back.

[Suhari]

1 hour ago, MarkSFC said:

VVD in midfield🤔🤔🤔

Wouldn't be better than Stephens.

Edited 1 hour ago by Suhari
typo

[saintant]

4 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

This is a strange place. When Charles went some were saying that we wouldn’t miss him as he didn’t play much last season and he was behind Downes and Jander anyway. Now a seasoned pro with bags of EPL experience is not good enough to take his place? 
If the finances work it is a no brainer to bring JWP back.

They are completely different types of midfielder. JWP cannot replace Charles.

[sadoldgit]

9 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

It's been a while since we talked about how our defenders could do a job for us in midfield... perhaps Jack Stephens could provide cover for us there if he's no longer going to be first choice in defence?  I seem to remember that theory was floated a couple of times on here.

He can’t do a job in defence, would you want his howlers in midfield too? 

[sadoldgit]

Just now, saintant said:

They are completely different types of midfielder. JWP cannot replace Charles.

JWP has more in his locker than Charles, is more versatile and vastly more experienced. He brings things to the squad that Charles doesn’t have. You don’t always have to swap like with like.

[Scummer]

13 minutes ago, saintant said:

They are completely different types of midfielder. JWP cannot replace Charles.

I not even sure what kind of midfielder Charles is yet? He scored a few goals last year, but mainly from arriving late in the attack (similar to Smallbone when we got promoted). I don't really remember him playing defence splitting passes too often. In fact I watched him for Fulham the other night, I know he's new there but it was basically all simple passes to recycle the ball (many of them backwards). JWP can do all of the above, so not sure why people think he wouldn't be a decent replacement for Charles. A replica isn't necessarily what we want anyway, you could argue we should have 2 midfielders who mainly sit to allow all the attacking players to do their thing. Not many teams play with as many forwards/wingers/number 10s as us.

[Chez]

Last summer every signing was 26 and under (most were well under). Dobbin, Mbumba and Peretz followed that trend. Slightly different this summer with a 29 and 31 year old potentially being added to the squad, in addition to the 31 year old Larin and 32 year old Long.  Larin was a no brainer, but the Schlottbeck signing feels slightly out of kilter. Perhaps the success of Larin has adjusted the player profile a tad?

[Turkish]

37 minutes ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

It's been a while since we talked about how our defenders could do a job for us in midfield... perhaps Jack Stephens could provide cover for us there if he's no longer going to be first choice in defence?  I seem to remember that theory was floated a couple of times on here.

Maybe we could revert him to his hybrid left back, come attacking midfield role that was tried a few years ago when he was a cross between Robert Carlos and Roberto Baggio.

[austsaint]

30 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

This is a strange place. When Charles went some were saying that we wouldn’t miss him as he didn’t play much last season and he was behind Downes and Jander anyway. Now a seasoned pro with bags of EPL experience is not good enough to take his place? 
If the finances work it is a no brainer to bring JWP back.

Put it this way; no Prem team is going to pay 25m for Prowsey, like they just did for Charles.  See the difference?     Plus Prowsey's not the like-for like Charles replacement we need.  We are missing Charles a lot.  Not such a strange place at all.

[saintwbu]

2 minutes ago, austsaint said:

Put it this way; no Prem team is going to pay 25m for Prowsey, like they just did for Charles.  See the difference?     Plus Prowsey's not the like-for like Charles replacement we need.  We are missing Charles a lot.  Not such a strange place at all.

Prem teams are paying for potential in Charles, no one is paying 25m for a midfielder that wasn’t in the best 11 for the team who came 4th in the Championship if he was 28. Charles didn’t control games, but he had 3 or 4 significant moments last season that put him really in focus - whether we have Charles or JWP, it’s still going to be Downes and Jander starting big games, so it’s down to whether JWP can add his own 3 or 4 big moments this season. 

[capitalsaint]

8 minutes ago, austsaint said:

Put it this way; no Prem team is going to pay 25m for Prowsey, like they just did for Charles.  See the difference?     Plus Prowsey's not the like-for like Charles replacement we need.  We are missing Charles a lot.  Not such a strange place at all.

I’d argue we’re missing Jander more than Charles.

[Chez]

166 pages of JWP chat on the West Ham forum (from when he signed to present day). Perhaps start at page 160 to get a feel for how they view him. Not a bad read to be honest: https://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=186773&start=3180

Cant find a Burnley JWP thread but a general search of "prowse" on uptheclarets seems to unearth plenty of positive comments:

https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboard/search.php?keywords=prowse&sid=d552316ba818fb9b8528d80604795bc3 

[AlexLaw76]

10 minutes ago, austsaint said:

Put it this way; no Prem team is going to pay 25m for Prowsey, like they just did for Charles.  See the difference?     Plus Prowsey's not the like-for like Charles replacement we need.  We are missing Charles a lot.  Not such a strange place at all.

And what Charles did last season was not worth £25m either

[BarberSaint]

11 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Part of the reason for the crab play was because we were not playing at the top of the division in PL. When crap attackers play against good defenders the passing lanes get closed off and so a forward pass isn't on.

He's a smart guy - just like Azaz. I reckon the two of them linking up down the spine could be very productive: CBs feed JWP. He feeds Azaz. Azaz puts it on a plate for Larin / Scienza / Mumba.

Do you remember the first game of the Championship season under Russell Martin? We beat Sheffield Wednesday 2:1 convincingly and they didn't get a touch in the last ten minutes. JWP ran the show that day.

Playing for a Saints team that deserved to be promoted last season, against Championship opposition is not the same as playing for Saints in the PL when we didn't have a pot to piss in (relatively) 

Walcott's game relied on pace - but it had gone when he returned. JWP's game has never relied on pace - he's about guile, intelligence and stamina. He has the potential to be a James Milner and play into his forties.

Plus when we get promoted to the PL I for one would love to see him take Beckham's record in a Saints shirt.

Nice try, but they were so shit and it was only 2-1 and we had a much better team including the likes of Tella.

[goodymatt]

 

[goodymatt]

 

[AlexLaw76]

Getting JWP on a free....what is not to like?

[BarberSaint]

9 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

Will be a good signing and create a good balance in our midfield including leadership, work rate, creativity, goals and a set piece threat. We currently lack any real threat from set pieces and this would change things. A free transfer it seems with JWP willing to take a big cut in wages - what is not to like!
 

JWP, Downes, Bragg and jander is a good championship midfield

Everything.

[austsaint]

1 minute ago, capitalsaint said:

I’d argue we’re missing Jander more than Charles.

I'd agree with you.  Jander and THB not playing has been crucial.

[Disco Stu]

1 minute ago, goodymatt said:

 

I'm a big advocate for bringing in experience and I think Sport Republic have undervalued it in the past but a 32 year old winger doesn't sound like a good idea. Would be a bit like bringing in 32 year old Nathan Redmond.

 

Unless this guy can play right-back to cover for Bree?

[austsaint]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

And what Charles did last season was not worth £25m either

Fulham and SFC disagree with you.