Summer Transfer Window 2026

[WALK DMC]

54 minutes ago, Chez said:

I noticed many country's transfer windows are still open 
 

USA and Netherlands - September 2nd
Scotland and Belgium - September 3rd
Turkey - September 4th
Brazil and Mexico - September 11th
Portugal - September 15th
Saudi - October 12th

The Austrian transfer window remains open until tomorrow, so perhaps a deal with Salzburg can still be agreed.

[The Kraken]

21 minutes ago, Chez said:

It's strange that some on here talk about us paying Azaz £50k a week (I have no idea if that is true or not), yet even with a supposed 40% or 50% cut in his wage, Ramsdale is far too expensive. Just how much is he on?

Rumoured £100K in the Prem. So at best for us around half that.

More of an issue it would seem is that Eckert has said he has made a commitment to Peretz to be the number 1 keeper, and he intends to honour that commitment. I’m sure we can afford Ramsdale, as we were preparing to spend up to £10M on a new CB.

[AlexLaw76]

If Ramsdale does not move on (sure he will) it would be incredible that he is shunted from the first team squad behind Long and Jones.

 

[Rebel]

1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

I thought I'd take a look at Lewis Dobbin's career history on transfermkt to see if maybe HCDAJFU up front.

I didn't follow his signing closely. I understood from the chat on here and from Dragan that he was an Azaz no.10 understudy who could do a job at left wing. 5'9" right-footed.

Whilst he did play for Everton in the PL in the 23/24 season it doesn't look too much to write home about.

In the first half of the 24-25 season he played 17 Championship games for West Brom. All but 2 were off the bench, and all were on the left. No goal involvements at all.

In the second half of the 24-25 Season he played as a winger at Norwich; 9 games, starting 7. No assists. Scored 2 goals - one from left wing and one from right wing. A calf injury curtailed his season.

For Preson last year he played 39 Championship league games averaging 67'. Six of these games were off the bench. He's scored 10 and assisted 8 in these matches. So when he plays most of a game we might expect a goal involvement almost every other game - but there is a caveat to this. Preston finished 14th.

Having previously always been a winger, at Preston this was the situation when he was a starter:


 
Preston played 3-5-2 and he was alongside a big lad in those games:
1) Canadian 6'3" forward Daniel Jebison. Jebison scored 6 and assisted 1 over 38 games (22 starts) for Preston last year, so he wasn't directly setting those goals up for Dobbin.

2) Osmajic from Montenegro is 6'1". He played 28 games, starting 20. He scored 7 and assisted 1. So he wasn't directly providing assists for Dobbin either.

3) 6'3" Michael Smith. Played 37 games, starting 13. Scored 3 with 1 assist. So he wasn't directly making Dobbin's goals either. 

Dobbin always seems to have played on the right side of the pairing. 

If Larin is out of action and Mubamba isn't doing it for whatever reason. Could we play Dobbin and Azaz together as a pairing?

Azaz can hold the ball up pretty well, is a smart guy, can shoot and is 6'1". But according to his stats he's only ever played at centre forward once under Michael Carrick: A 1-3 away win for Middlesbrough v Millwall in January 2024. He wasn't directly involved in those goals. I guess there is a chance he could turn his hand to a kind of false 9 for a game or two if needed?

I was hoping I might find something a bit more conclusive but hopefully someone will find this interesting.

This is Dobbin's whole career overview:

I get the feeling they bought Dobbin to provide cover across the front three - at Left Wing, Right Wing and Centre Forward but also as an option as a Second Striker if we want to change our game a bit.  

So in many ways as a replacement for Archer and Edozie and as cover for Scienza, Fellows/Matzuki and Larin/Mubama. He seems to have played better at RW or CF/SS when it comes to scoring goals though.

Which I think explains why we got rid of Archer on loan and were trying to shift Edozie as well. 

I don't think we bought him as cover for Azaz in the Number 10 role.  I think out target there was Justin Devenny from Crystal Palace - but we gave Dobbin a try in pre-season to see if if would work. 

I think we overpaid for him though - and I am not sure he or Mubama will really make any difference on the pitch - but them that is the same as Archer and Edozie I guess.

I think it was a failure to not really replace Stewart or Charles (who could play as the Number 10) - and the team look weaker than last season in key areas.  

I also think we are missing the physical holding/defensive midfielder to help us close out games - which is why they brought in Romeu in January.  It didn't work - but that doesn't change the fact we need one.

Personally I think we should just have kept Jay Robinson over paying £9M plus for Dobbin.

 

 

[saintant]

9 hours ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

So, with most business done, this is our squad as things stand:

GK: Peretz, Long, Jones, Ramsdale
RB: Bree, Roerslev
LB: Manning, Welington
RCB: Wood, Abbott
LCB: Schlotterbeck, Stephens
CM: Jander, Downes, Bragg, JWP, Williams
AM: Azaz, Akachukwu
RW: Fellows, Matsuki
LW: Scienza, Dobbin, Edozie

That's 24 players including 2 who are under 21. However, it looks likely that Ramsdale will be leaving - probably to play in Saudi Arabia or somewhere like that.

We may also see Edozie leaving, but if not I hope he is given some level of support in the hope that he may finally begin to show the final product that he has so often failed to deliver.

With only 20 or 21 players over 21 once Ramsdale leaves (and maybe Edozie too) that leaves us plenty of spare capacity to bring in players in January. It also means we could bring in a player from the free transfer market in the next few days if there is anyone that we think is worth bringing in... but unless there is a decent striker theer I doubt we will see that happening!

Our squad is definitely more honed. Tonda and his coaches don't have to waste time on fringe players who are never going to play.

I would say there is no huge difference in squad quality:

• Ward-Prowse offers different qualities that Shea did not.
• Dobbin is an extra option and will hopefully come good. He is versatile and could cover the striking position if needed.
• Abbott won't yet be as good as THB, but Wood is decent (and underrated) and Abbott will hopefully develop quickly into another bright talent.
• Schlotterbeck looks like he has qualities that Stephens and Quarshie can only dream of and I trust Tonda to help him iron out the mistakes (which are not a patch on Stephens mistakes!)
• Hopefully the pairing of Schlotterbeck and Wood (or Abbott) will be as good or better than THB and Stephens.
• Akachukwu offers us an extra alternative that wasn't ready last year. He may also be a striking option in case of injury.
• The main position we are potentially weaker is centre forward but Mubama will not spend every other week injured (unlike Stewart) and will hopefully develop. There are other options too including Dobbin, Akachukwu, Ehibotiamhan and Dipepa.
• Goalkeepers don't get injured as often as outfield players so hopefully Peretz will remain fit. Long is not without merit and will do a job if called upon.

A squad of 24 including no strikers. It's a worry!

[beatlesaint]

As someone already said I too just dont understand getting rid of Archer without bringing another striker option in.

He didnt look bad at the back end of last season and chipped in with a couple of vital goals (although obviously they turned out not to be).

I can understand the decisions made in all other areas of the pitch whilst praying Peretz doest get injured but I just dont get the lack of firepower. We are one injury away from disaster I fear. 

[Turkish]

We’ve got two decent senior players for every position the first XI is very strong and should be match for anyone. We’re fine unless they’re is an injury crisis. Obviously if Azaz or Larin get injured they makes things tricky but tell me a club in the world that isn’t going to be weaker without their main scorer and assist provider. 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

MLS window shuts today according to chat GPT so still a bit of time to get him gone 

Yeah, I imagine this one might go to the wire as MLS clubs battle to outbid one another for the coveted signing of Downs.

[beatlesaint]

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

We’ve got two decent senior players for every position the first XI is very strong and should be match for anyone. We’re fine unless they’re is an injury crisis. Obviously if Azaz or Larin get injured they makes things tricky but tell me a club in the world that isn’t going to be weaker without their main scorer and assist provider. 

I take your point certainly regarding Azaz BUT for him there are options, several to be fair.

For Larin there is one - and he's a young lad. It's not great  

[Weston Super Saint]

26 minutes ago, saintant said:

A squad of 24 including no strikers. It's a worry!

And yet we've scored the second most league goals so far this season....

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

I take your point certainly regarding Azaz BUT for him there are options, several to be fair.

For Larin there is one - and he's a young lad. It's not great  

Yeah it’s disappointing I get that and with what is going to be a 50 game season plus international games Larin is inevitably going to need a rest and pick odd injury. I guess part of the issue here is getting someone good enough, within budget and come here to be back up or at best share duties with Larin. I thought we might get another loan in. Mumbama is very highly rated it’s a gamble but he’s a different sort of striker so be interesting to see how our game adapts to that. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

You can’t blame players like Ramsdale or Edozie if they do choose to sit on their contracts which will be lucrative amounts anyway, it’s what they and the club agreed to, that’s ridiculous but fine.

What is ridiculous is if they turn around (like Edozie has done) and say “I just want to play football” and then turn down accepted bids because presumably they aren’t up to the level you wanted.

Hate to break it to Sam but beggars can’t be choosers, and he has done nothing of note for two and a half years now.
Maybe making a step backwards to take two forwards is best for you, and if you’re that concerned about playing then either pull your finger out and show you are good enough or lower your wage demands.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

I noticed many country's transfer windows are still open 
 

USA and Netherlands - September 2nd
Scotland and Belgium - September 3rd
Turkey - September 4th
Brazil and Mexico - September 11th
Portugal - September 15th
Saudi - October 12th

Joe Hugill from Kilmarnock would be worth a punt. Young 6'2 centre forward who would cost peanuts.

[Disco Stu]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Joe Hugill from Kilmarnock would be worth a punt. Young 6'2 centre forward who would cost peanuts.

Our transfer window shut last night.

[Midfield_General]

4 minutes ago, saintant said:

Joe Hugill from Kilmarnock would be worth a punt. Young 6'2 centre forward who would cost peanuts.

We can’t sign anyone now. The English window’s closed. Outgoings only. 

[saintant]

Just now, Midfield_General said:

We can’t sign anyone now. The English window’s closed. Outgoings only. 

Ah, didn't realise that.

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Our transfer window shut last night.

it didn't just shut, it SLAMMED SHUT!

[beatlesaint]

Despite the "come and get me folks" transfer request yesterday I take it Edozie is still here then ?

 

[vectraman]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

That's good as we needed a back up to put the  cones out.

Surely he’ll be putting the cones away as back up back up, our back up puts them out 😉.

God forbid Peretz gets injured and we have to play Long in goal for any length of time 🫣

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

That's good as we needed a back up to put the  cones out.

We’ve got two now

[SaintLondon]

 

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Despite the "come and get me folks" transfer request yesterday I take it Edozie is still here then ?

 

Sounds like he wanted to move to Lecce or Salzburg. Can’t blame him really. Always seems a shame to see a young player not being given a chance, not that I rate him particularly but he’s could do a job somewhere as it stands he’s wasting his career. The offer we got of £4m if that’s what it was seemed alright considering we signed him for £7m and he’s not got long left on his contract. Not a good position for anyone to be In

[Ex Lion Tamer]

56 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

As someone already said I too just dont understand getting rid of Archer without bringing another striker option in.

He didnt look bad at the back end of last season and chipped in with a couple of vital goals (although obviously they turned out not to be).

I can understand the decisions made in all other areas of the pitch whilst praying Peretz doest get injured but I just dont get the lack of firepower. We are one injury away from disaster I fear. 

He didn't look good as a striker though

[BARCELONASAINT]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Sounds like he wanted to move to Lecce or Salzburg. Can’t blame him really. Always seems a shame to see a young player not being given a chance, not that I rate him particularly but he’s could do a job somewhere as it stands he’s wasting his career. The offer we got of £4m if that’s what it was seemed alright considering we signed him for £7m and he’s not got long left on his contract. Not a good position for anyone to be In

it does seem a very strange situation if we turned down £4 million for him unless it wasn't £4 mill up front and based on stupid targets

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

I get the feeling they bought Dobbin to provide cover across the front three - at Left Wing, Right Wing and Centre Forward but also as an option as a Second Striker if we want to change our game a bit.  

So in many ways as a replacement for Archer and Edozie and as cover for Scienza, Fellows/Matzuki and Larin/Mubama. He seems to have played better at RW or CF/SS when it comes to scoring goals though.

Which I think explains why we got rid of Archer on loan and were trying to shift Edozie as well. 

I don't think we bought him as cover for Azaz in the Number 10 role.  I think out target there was Justin Devenny from Crystal Palace - but we gave Dobbin a try in pre-season to see if if would work. 

I think we overpaid for him though - and I am not sure he or Mubama will really make any difference on the pitch - but them that is the same as Archer and Edozie I guess.

I think it was a failure to not really replace Stewart or Charles (who could play as the Number 10) - and the team look weaker than last season in key areas.  

I also think we are missing the physical holding/defensive midfielder to help us close out games - which is why they brought in Romeu in January.  It didn't work - but that doesn't change the fact we need one.

Personally I think we should just have kept Jay Robinson over paying £9M plus for Dobbin.

 

 

Good shout that, Jay Robinson gets forgotten when discussing all the forward players we've let go , its quite a list 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

6 minutes ago, SaintLondon said:

 

You missed Will Smallbone

[revolution saint]

1 minute ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

it does seem a very strange situation if we turned down £4 million for him unless it wasn't £4 mill up front and based on stupid targets

Yeah, I can't believe anyone would actually bid 4M for Edozie.  Probably £4.

[Turkish]

We came third. Decent performance against some tough competition this season 

 

[Morse]

I've clearly missed a meeting along the way, but why is our best keeper not registered in the squad, while we scramble around for an also ran keeper for back up to our second best keeper, and our third choice keeper does what? 

[CSA96]

2 minutes ago, Morse said:

I've clearly missed a meeting along the way, but why is our best keeper not registered in the squad, while we scramble around for an also ran keeper for back up to our second best keeper, and our third choice keeper does what? 

Because his wages are huge, he gets paid more every time he's named on a teamsheet and he set his stall out about not wanting to play in the Championship, presumably

Edited 3 hours ago by CSA96

[Wade Garrett]

Club must have put themselves on a firm financial footing with the window deals.

No bad thing I suppose.  It’s down to Tonda to get the maximum from the players he has to work with.

We can absolutely be better than last season.  We have Jander and JWP at our disposal in midfield while Downes is putting in 8/10 performances every week.  We’ve got decent wide players and possibly the best CF in the league.  
 

[Saint Pete]

34 minutes ago, Turkish said:

We’ve got two decent senior players for every position the first XI is very strong and should be match for anyone. We’re fine unless they’re is an injury crisis. Obviously if Azaz or Larin get injured they makes things tricky but tell me a club in the world that isn’t going to be weaker without their main scorer and assist provider. 

But with Larin, it's one thing to be weaker in quality without him on the pitch, but it's another thing to have seemingly intentionally left ourselves with not even a similar type of player to play instead of him?! We had a good thing going at back end of last season that we could alternate Larin and Stewart and not lose much if anything in quality or have to adapt our game much. Both players benefitted from keeping fresh and sharp and I think that was a major factor in our long unbeaten run. It was best that Stewart left us due to his injury weaknesses, no argument there, but we have failed to replace him with a similar type of player that can help Larin to stay fit and sharp. It's not just injuries that will hamper us, it is players becoming jaded/burnt out because we don't have enough viable backup options. 

I also don't really agree that having 2 senior players for the 1 lone striker position is enough in the same way as it is for other positions in the team. Playing as a lone striker is very demanding physically, which is demonstrated by the fact that we pretty much always substitute that player for at least 20-25 minutes, sometimes more. How many times has Larin played a full 90 mins for us, not many if ever? So, we need 2 strikers to play in that position every single game, which makes it different from say a full back where they will mostly play the full game and not require a sub. If we only have 1 backup for lone striker, it will only take 1 injury to have a significant impact, as the player coming on for the 20-25 minutes will have to be an untried youngster or someone else played out of position now. It seems unnecessary that we have left ourselves in that position, I can't believe we are that hard up after the sales we made and multiple forwards going out on loan that we couldn't afford at least one more loaned striker of the correct type to help Larin. 

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, CSA96 said:

Because his wages are huge and he gets paid more every time he's named on a teamsheet, presumably

If Peretz gets injured and he’s still at the club, we’ll have to use him.

[CSA96]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

If Peretz gets injured and he’s still at the club, we’ll have to use him.

If he's here, probably yes

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, Saint Pete said:

But with Larin, it's one thing to be weaker in quality without him on the pitch, but it's another thing to have seemingly intentionally left ourselves with not even a similar type of player to play instead of him?! We had a good thing going at back end of last season that we could alternate Larin and Stewart and not lose much if anything in quality or have to adapt our game much. Both players benefitted from keeping fresh and sharp and I think that was a major factor in our long unbeaten run. It was best that Stewart left us due to his injury weaknesses, no argument there, but we have failed to replace him with a similar type of player that can help Larin to stay fit and sharp. It's not just injuries that will hamper us, it is players becoming jaded/burnt out because we don't have enough viable backup options. 

I also don't really agree that having 2 senior players for the 1 lone striker position is enough in the same way as it is for other positions in the team. Playing as a lone striker is very demanding physically, which is demonstrated by the fact that we pretty much always substitute that player for at least 20-25 minutes, sometimes more. How many times has Larin played a full 90 mins for us, not many if ever? So, we need 2 strikers to play in that position every single game, which makes it different from say a full back where they will mostly play the full game and not require a sub. If we only have 1 backup for lone striker, it will only take 1 injury to have a significant impact, as the player coming on for the 20-25 minutes will have to be an untried youngster or someone else played out of position now. It seems unnecessary that we have left ourselves in that position, I can't believe we are that hard up after the sales we made and multiple forwards going out on loan that we couldn't afford at least one more loaned striker of the correct type to help Larin. 

I think Divin could do ok.  We’ve just got to adapt our game slightly when he’s on the pitch.

[SaintNate]

Entirely possible that the club tried for another striker (with the same sort of profile as Larin), but they just were unwilling to come as second choice.

It is a risk. Hoping that Tonda can change the way we play for when the likes of Mubama and Dobbin come on. 

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, SaintNate said:

Entirely possible that the club tried for another striker (with the same sort of profile as Larin), but they just were unwilling to come as second choice.

It is a risk. Hoping that Tonda can change the way we play for when the likes of Mubama and Dobbin come on. 

Mubama IS the second choice. Dobbin would be playing there in an emergency if the other two were injured. You aren’t realistically getting better depth than that for one position in the team. A few weeks ago I mooted BBD as being a backup option worth hanging on to, which was largely scoffed at. We aren’t getting a better player than that to come to a Championship team and basically never play, unless someone is injured.

[Saint Pete]

Celtic have signed Sam Johnstone on loan from Wolves so that's another potential route for Ramsdale closed. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

We’ve got two decent senior players for every position the first XI is very strong and should be match for anyone. We’re fine unless they’re is an injury crisis. Obviously if Azaz or Larin get injured they makes things tricky but tell me a club in the world that isn’t going to be weaker without their main scorer and assist provider. 

Seeing as the striker position is the one we have the most concerns with, I thought I'd look at the depth across the league in terms of numbers and quality. A mixed bag to say the least:
Birmingham: Priske, Stansfield, Ducksch, Vazquez
Blackburn: Gudjonsen, Ohashi
Bolton: Dalby, Kenny, Burstow
Bristol City: Tolaj, Adebeyo, Ballard
Burnley: Foster, Broja, Hountondji, Satpaev,Barnes, Obafemi,
Cardiff: Salech, Robinson
Charlton: Leaburn, Mbick, Grant, Kelman, Godden
Derby: Agyemang, Brewster, Morris, Salesten, Meister, Fuseini
Lincoln: Oloafe, Ladefoged, Draper, Street
Millwall: Coburn, Dykes, Arconte, Ivanovic
M'Boro: Lanshear, Conway, Joseph, Strelec
Norwich: Kvistgaarden, Toure, Makama, Mundle-Smith, Crnac
Skates: Milovanovic, Bishop, Waddington
Preston: Erabi, Burgzorg, Kenny, Wilson
QPR: Burrell, Kone, Kolli, Obikwu, Lloyd
Saints: Larin, Mouamba 
Sheffield United: Bamford, BBD, Cannon, Campbell, One
Stoke: Bozenic, Hirst, Gallagher
Swansea: Idah, Vipotnik, Stewart
Watford: Doumbia, Boadu, Kjeremgaard, Bravo
WBA: Morgan, Bany, Stewart, Heggabo
West Ham: Pablo, Castellanos, Piroe, Ajala
Wolves: Jimenez, Armstrong,  Fraser, Neave
Wrexham: Moor, Cadamarteri, Smith, Keillor-Dunn,

 

 

 

 

 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

We came third. Decent performance against some tough competition this season 

 

Wolves missed out on the trophy by selling their talent early. Schoolboy error.

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, Chez said:

Seeing as the striker position is the one we have the most concerns with, I thought I'd look at the depth across the league in terms of numbers and quality. A mixed bag to say the least:
Birmingham: Priske, Stansfield, Ducksch, Vazquez
Blackburn: Gudjonsen, Ohashi
Bolton: Dalby, Kenny, Burstow
Bristol City: Tolaj, Adebeyo, Ballard
Burnley: Foster, Broja, Hountondji, Satpaev,Barnes, Obafemi,
Cardiff: Salech, Robinson
Charlton: Leaburn, Mbick, Grant, Kelman, Godden
Derby: Agyemang, Brewster, Morris, Salesten, Meister, Fuseini
Lincoln: Oloafe, Ladefoged, Draper, Street
Millwall: Coburn, Dykes, Arconte, Ivanovic
M'Boro: Lanshear, Conway, Joseph, Strelec
Norwich: Kvistgaarden, Toure, Makama, Mundle-Smith, Crnac
Skates: Milovanovic, Bishop, Waddington
Preston: Erabi, Burgzorg, Kenny, Wilson
QPR: Burrell, Kone, Kolli, Obikwu, Lloyd
Saints: Larin, Mouamba 
Sheffield United: Bamford, BBD, Cannon, Campbell, One
Stoke: Bozenic, Hirst, Gallagher
Swansea: Idah, Vipotnik, Stewart
Watford: Doumbia, Boadu, Kjeremgaard, Bravo
WBA: Morgan, Bany, Stewart, Heggabo
West Ham: Pablo, Castellanos, Piroe, Ajala
Wolves: Jimenez, Armstrong,  Fraser, Neave
Wrexham: Moor, Cadamarteri, Smith, Keillor-Dunn,

 

 

 

 

 

Bristol, Wolves and West Ham very strong. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Mubama IS the second choice. Dobbin would be playing there in an emergency if the other two were injured. You aren’t realistically getting better depth than that for one position in the team. A few weeks ago I mooted BBD as being a backup option worth hanging on to, which was largely scoffed at. We aren’t getting a better player than that to come to a Championship team and basically never play, unless someone is injured.

Yep, that was the choice. Keep one or two of BBD, Archer, Downs who would play next to no games unless there were injuries or get them off the wage bill. BBD played up front for the blades last night as one of a pair.

There are 20 games until the next window opens. Perhaps the money saved will allow us to spend a little then.

Edited 2 hours ago by Chez

[trousers]

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

I don't think we bought him (Dobbin) as cover for Azaz in the Number 10 role. 

Given "cover for Azaz" was the one and only definitive 'new signing' target stated by Dragan (as per his interviews in June), are we saying that he/the club failed to achieve that sole aim?

Edited 2 hours ago by trousers

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, Chez said:

Yep, that was the choice. Keep one or two of BBD, Archer, Downs who would play next to no games unless there were injuries or get them off the wage bill. BBD played up front for the blades last night as one of a pair.

There are 20 games until the next window opens. Perhaps the money saved will allow us to spend a little then.

I don't think money was saved. It was more likely used to ease the debts. I doubt we're sitting on a pot of money from the summer sales. January signings will probably be loans.

[hippo]

17 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Bristol, Wolves and West Ham very strong. 

Wrexham, WBA, Swansea, Millwall, Sheffield United, Boro - all also have 3 senior Strikers as depth. 

[Little Lat Pahars]

37 minutes ago, Chez said:

Seeing as the striker position is the one we have the most concerns with, I thought I'd look at the depth across the league in terms of numbers and quality. A mixed bag to say the least:
Birmingham: Priske, Stansfield, Ducksch, Vazquez
Blackburn: Gudjonsen, Ohashi
Bolton: Dalby, Kenny, Burstow
Bristol City: Tolaj, Adebeyo, Ballard
Burnley: Foster, Broja, Hountondji, Satpaev,Barnes, Obafemi,
Cardiff: Salech, Robinson
Charlton: Leaburn, Mbick, Grant, Kelman, Godden
Derby: Agyemang, Brewster, Morris, Salesten, Meister, Fuseini
Lincoln: Oloafe, Ladefoged, Draper, Street
Millwall: Coburn, Dykes, Arconte, Ivanovic
M'Boro: Lanshear, Conway, Joseph, Strelec
Norwich: Kvistgaarden, Toure, Makama, Mundle-Smith, Crnac
Skates: Milovanovic, Bishop, Waddington
Preston: Erabi, Burgzorg, Kenny, Wilson
QPR: Burrell, Kone, Kolli, Obikwu, Lloyd
Saints: Larin, Mouamba 
Sheffield United: Bamford, BBD, Cannon, Campbell, One
Stoke: Bozenic, Hirst, Gallagher
Swansea: Idah, Vipotnik, Stewart
Watford: Doumbia, Boadu, Kjeremgaard, Bravo
WBA: Morgan, Bany, Stewart, Heggabo
West Ham: Pablo, Castellanos, Piroe, Ajala
Wolves: Jimenez, Armstrong,  Fraser, Neave
Wrexham: Moor, Cadamarteri, Smith, Keillor-Dunn,

 

 

 

 

 

If you're going to do a comparison than you need to go like for like. So if you're including players that play out wide but can also play upfront then you need to do the same for Saints.

BBD, Gallagher, Conway etc. then you need include Dobbin for Saints.

[Saint Pete]

39 minutes ago, Chez said:

Seeing as the striker position is the one we have the most concerns with, I thought I'd look at the depth across the league in terms of numbers and quality. A mixed bag to say the least:
Birmingham: Priske, Stansfield, Ducksch, Vazquez
Blackburn: Gudjonsen, Ohashi
Bolton: Dalby, Kenny, Burstow
Bristol City: Tolaj, Adebeyo, Ballard
Burnley: Foster, Broja, Hountondji, Satpaev,Barnes, Obafemi,
Cardiff: Salech, Robinson
Charlton: Leaburn, Mbick, Grant, Kelman, Godden
Derby: Agyemang, Brewster, Morris, Salesten, Meister, Fuseini
Lincoln: Oloafe, Ladefoged, Draper, Street
Millwall: Coburn, Dykes, Arconte, Ivanovic
M'Boro: Lanshear, Conway, Joseph, Strelec
Norwich: Kvistgaarden, Toure, Makama, Mundle-Smith, Crnac
Skates: Milovanovic, Bishop, Waddington
Preston: Erabi, Burgzorg, Kenny, Wilson
QPR: Burrell, Kone, Kolli, Obikwu, Lloyd
Saints: Larin, Mouamba 
Sheffield United: Bamford, BBD, Cannon, Campbell, One
Stoke: Bozenic, Hirst, Gallagher
Swansea: Idah, Vipotnik, Stewart
Watford: Doumbia, Boadu, Kjeremgaard, Bravo
WBA: Morgan, Bany, Stewart, Heggabo
West Ham: Pablo, Castellanos, Piroe, Ajala
Wolves: Jimenez, Armstrong,  Fraser, Neave
Wrexham: Moor, Cadamarteri, Smith, Keillor-Dunn,

 

 

 

 

 

I think that shows that most clubs choose to have at least 3 viable senior players in the key position of central striker, despite some posters making out that would be some kind of crazy idea. And certainly all of the ones who consider themselves to be auto promotion contenders. 

 

[CSA96]

21 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

I think that shows that most clubs choose to have at least 3 viable senior players in the key position of central striker, despite some posters making out that would be some kind of crazy idea. And certainly all of the ones who consider themselves to be auto promotion contenders. 

 

That list has wingers, 10s and academy lads in it, so you'd probably need to add Dobbin and Ehibhatiomhan for it to be a fair representation of Saints forward options

That aside, most of those fanbases would have no interest in seeing the third option play any minutes though, in fairness. There's not many third options there who are actually anything to worry about or with any sort of record. To take one team as an example: Stoke. They signed George Hirst who is the clear #1 option for them (I'd say he's worse than Larin) but then they have two senior options in Bozenik and Gallagher behind him. Those two strikers scored 1 in 30 and 2 in 20 last season...

Even West Ham and Wolves - the teams with the most plentiful resources - have two good options and then people nobody really wants to see playing

Strongest groups are probably Wolves, West Ham, Boro, Swansea. Then there's some with two potentially good options: Bristol City, West Brom, Norwich... etc

Saints have punted on having two out and out strikers where one is very good and one has potential, vs having three where one is just decent to good and the other two are below par. Then behind them we're looking at a versatile attacking player like Dobbin or an academy lad like Ehibhatiomhan

Edited 1 hour ago by CSA96

[Chez]

49 minutes ago, saintant said:

I don't think money was saved. It was more likely used to ease the debts. I doubt we're sitting on a pot of money from the summer sales. January signings will probably be loans.

Sure, but you still need to pay the wages of those potential loaned players...and offloading the three unwanted strikers will help fund them. But we have gambled on having only two strikers until January 1st. Lets hope it pays off.

[Chez]

31 minutes ago, Little Lat Pahars said:

If you're going to do a comparison than you need to go like for like. So if you're including players that play out wide but can also play upfront then you need to do the same for Saints.

BBD, Gallagher, Conway etc. then you need include Dobbin for Saints.

I don't know all the players as well as you. I used Transfermarkt and only those listed as a centre forward were included. BBD was listed as a CF, which didn't seem right, but he played up front for Sheffield United yesterday, so I included him.