Summer Transfer Window 2026

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Taylor Harwood Bellis was 20 during his promotion season with Burnley. 

Ok Forest are not City but they may still be comparable players

[SNSUN]

Just now, 23rdSaint said:

 

If his name was Zacharino Abbotino from Italy we'd be happier with this. 😜

I hope we have an option in case he's actually really good. He seems highly rated, has the right attributes. Who knows, if he's even half decent he'll already be better than Jack has been this season. 

[Fabrice29]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Replicating someone's attributes doesn't mean that any signing we make woukd be as good as the person they are replacing. And I said that for me experience was a key attribute and we know this lad doesn't currently have that. He could be brilliant and I'm sure he's got lots of potential but we need to get promoted this season. I'm not shitting the bed or getting upset and it's pretty tiring that you're in every signing reaction comment for every player banging the same drum. People thought Larin was a crap signing and he was great. People thought Fellows was a great signing and he's been pretty poor so far. People are allowed initial opinions about signings prior to them playing for us. If you find opinions so irritating then I suggest you just avoid message boards until he's played ten games and then come and talk about him.

As you’ve neatly pointed out…it’s sometimes best to see how things pan out before having opinions. 

[skintsaint]

1 minute ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Taylor Harwood Bellis was 20 during his promotion season with Burnley. 

Ok Forest are not City but they may still be comparable players

He was playing in the championship even younger than that I think.

[sockeye]

Also in the underwhelmed camp regarding this signing. Our defense is quite poor for a team with our ambitions of automatic promotion, it will be cut apart by the stronger forwards in the division without THB. This position determines whether or not we are seriously in the autos conversation imo, and having to go for our 20-year old third choice feels worrying

[SNSUN]

3 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

If his name was Zacharino Abbotino from Italy we'd be happier with this. 😜

I hope we have an option in case he's actually really good. He seems highly rated, has the right attributes. Who knows, if he's even half decent he'll already be better than Jack has been this season. 

Alfie House says we'll have an option to buy. This may be a smart bit of business. In true Saintsweb fashion i have changed my opinion on this to SR Genius.

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

 

I did warn you about our lack of ambition here is the proof

[coalman]

At least Abbott will have Schlotterbeck to learn from. This is where having a mix of youth and experience works instead of us buying youth only.

[goodymatt]

1 minute ago, sockeye said:

Also in the underwhelmed camp regarding this signing. Our defense is quite poor for a team with our ambitions of automatic promotion, it will be cut apart by the stronger forwards in the division without THB. This position determines whether or not we are seriously in the autos conversation imo, and having to go for our 20-year old third choice feels worrying

I make it 5th choice:

 

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

If his name was Zacharino Abbotino from Italy we'd be happier with this. 😜

I hope we have an option in case he's actually really good. He seems highly rated, has the right attributes. Who knows, if he's even half decent he'll already be better than Jack has been this season. 

Assuming Schlotterbeck and Wood are our first choice does anyone seriously think if one of them gets injured or loses form Tonda will put in this youngster ahead of Capn Jack?

[Fabrice29]

The good news is we still have a target man and fellows replacement to do this all over again with, right @Pilchards?

Edited 1 hour ago by Fabrice29

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, sockeye said:

Also in the underwhelmed camp regarding this signing. Our defense is quite poor for a team with our ambitions of automatic promotion, it will be cut apart by the stronger forwards in the division without THB. 

3rd place from last season Millwall with Schlotterbeck playing or us didn't.

[Lighthouse]

Never heard of him but clearly he must have something about him that we like the look of, so I’ll reserve judgement. When they first signed, everyone thought Larin was crap and Orsic was quality.

If we’ve replaced THB with Slotty, that doesn’t look a massive downgrade on first viewing, so if Abbott is a better suit than JQ then overall we’ve got a more even selection.

[CB Fry]

8 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

He was playing in the championship even younger than that I think.

Harwood-Bellis by the time he was 20 had played about 60 games for Blackburn, Anderlecht and Stoke City.

If we use the new the brand new SaintsWeb experience measurement calculator then 60 senior games means he was Steve Ogrizovic.

Edited 1 hour ago by CB Fry

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, coalman said:

At least Abbott will have Schlotterbeck to learn from. This is where having a mix of youth and experience works instead of us buying youth only.

He'll be 4th choice.

[Teamsaint1]

19 minutes ago, saintant said:

So we got good money for Charles and didn't replace him and good money for THB and look like replacing him with a young inexperienced lad with potential. The money situation must be dire.

The money situation is doubtless very tight, especially as we have no megabuck sales this summer.  It will be very tight for any team on final year parachute payments. The owners would be remiss if they weren’t factoring in the need to try to have a top 6 level side next season if we do miss out this season, which is certainly possible.

TBH , given the above, replacing SC with JWP( which if he stays fit is a very decent swap IMO) , investing a lot of money on Dobbin, getting a  seasoned Bundesliga replacement for THB , signing  an expensive keeper, and not losing any other stars whilst making some decent profits player on trading  is about as good as it was going to get  .

[Badger]

Wonder how much the bids were for Falchener.

Disappointing.

Hope we can get a CF, and No 2 GK in with the funds still in the kitty. 

[James]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Never heard of him but clearly he must have something about him that we like the look of, so I’ll reserve judgement. When they first signed, everyone thought Larin was crap and Orsic was quality.

If we’ve replaced THB with Slotty, that doesn’t look a massive downgrade on first viewing, so if Abbott is a better suit than JQ then overall we’ve got a more even selection.

This is a pretty fair assessment but my issue is that, at the time we signed Schlotterbeck, Alfie House had clearly been briefed that he wasn’t the THB replacement.

 

It’s a frustrating to have left such a crucial replacement so late (although not fully the club’s fault) and then get burned and have to settle for someone who clearly wasn’t near our top choice.

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

As you’ve neatly pointed out…it’s sometimes best to see how things pan out before having opinions. 

If thays how you truly feel then why are you posting ? I didn't notice you posting similar about Schlotterbeck wheb people were saying he looked like a good signing. What gives you the right to criticise people for having an opinion that differs from your own?

[Chez]

11 minutes ago, James said:

Also they play 3 at the back, so he must be a fair way down the pecking order despite what all these Forest fans seem to be saying about him.

Good point. They had Murrillo and Milenkovic, then spent £40m on Diomande. They have a couple of young Brazilians Cunha and Morata. I guess they dont need a CB that can play RB as they have two fit/very good right backs now. 

[sockeye]

4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

3rd place from last season Millwall with Schlotterbeck playing or us didn't.

Was wrong about that, and indeed I might be thinking about things with a pessimistic slant, but I can't shake the feeling that what we have isn't enough to be amongst the best this year. Plus what if Schlott gets injured?

[Themotherfunky]

#JusticeForKayiSanda

[saint-ross]

10 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

As you’ve neatly pointed out…it’s sometimes best to see how things pan out before having opinions. 

Yep, it's quite embarrassing to see how many of our fans jump the gun and slag off/display discontent with new signings, only to look like a bunch of muppets when they're wrong. It's pretty common practise, sadly. 

[for_heaven's_Saint]

 Maybe JWP put in a good word for him. 

[SNSUN]

Just now, Badger said:

Wonder how much the bids were for Falchener.

Disappointing.

Hope we can get a CF, and No 2 GK in with the funds still in the kitty. 

I am surprised we didn't go higher for a player we are seemingly interested in but if the club don't feel there is value there then we'll have to hope they know what they're doing. I'm no SR fan, I think they have made stupid decisions their whole tenure but they do run the club financially pretty well, and in Spors we seem to have a decent DOF with an eye for a decent player. 

I can see fans being annoyed that Abbott will be out CB choice which means one of Wood or Stephens will continue to be part of our CB pairing but we also have the transfer window in January to come with perhaps some money in our pocket for a change.

Thirdly though, the window isn't shut yet and anything could happen tomorrow. 

[James]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

Good point. They had Murrillo and Milenkovic, then spent £40m on Diomande. They have a couple of young Brazilians Cunha and Morata. I guess they dont need a CB that can play RB as they have two fit/very good right backs now. 

Quite but the cynic in me can’t help but feel that if this lad was really close to being PL quality, they wouldn’t have all of these guys in front of him and continue to be spending huge sums on players that will push him further down the pecking order. 

[CB Fry]

2 minutes ago, saint-ross said:

Yep, it's quite embarrassing to see how many of our fans jump the gun and slag off/display discontent with new signings, only to look like a bunch of muppets when they're wrong. It's pretty common practise, sadly. 

Looking forward to seeing Damion Downs first name on the teamsheet tomorrow, then?

[Chez]

16 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

He was playing in the championship even younger than that I think.

Yep. He was 19 when he played for Blackburn. He played 80 odd games before he joined us. He did cost £20m though.

[Fabrice29]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If thays how you truly feel then why are you posting ? I didn't notice you posting similar about Schlotterbeck wheb people were saying he looked like a good signing. What gives you the right to criticise people for having an opinion that differs from your own?

The right? 😂 

I had no opinion on Schlotterbeck, just as I have zero on Abbott. But you’re right, I’ve only picked people up for moaning.

[LGTL]

Falchener was the one. No idea why we didn’t bid slightly higher as he was clearly our first choice. We’ve been dragging our feet all day as to whether to bid higher, but it seems they’ve decided against it. 

A bizarre position, to be honest. Should have held on and made Villa pay us £30m upfront to cover the extra. 

Edited 1 hour ago by LGTL

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

 Maybe JWP put in a good word for him. 

I wonder if scouting teams do ever ask players for opinions on former team mates? 

[AlexLaw76]

Age is just a number. So is the number of senior appearance, along with the transfer fee.

We sent man to the moon, so…..

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

The right? 😂 

I had no opinion on Schlotterbeck, just as I have zero on Abbott. But you’re right, I’ve only picked people up for moaning.

Oh right so in your view you're only allowed a public opinion about a signing if it's positive. No dissenting opinions allowed.

Edited 1 hour ago by hypochondriac

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Just now, Chez said:

I wonder if scouting teams do ever ask players for opinions on former team mates? 

I guess it could form a part of the bigger picture in terms of a player’s personality and attitude. 

[Matthew Le God]

11 minutes ago, sockeye said:

Was wrong about that, and indeed I might be thinking about things with a pessimistic slant, but I can't shake the feeling that what we have isn't enough to be amongst the best this year. Plus what if Schlott gets injured?

Peretz, Wood, Stephens, Manning, Welington and Bree were all here playing for that 21 league game unbeaten run. Were they bad then? We've added Schlotterbeck to that group and will add another.

Edited 1 hour ago by Matthew Le God

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Peretz, Wood, Stephens, Manning snd Bree were all here playing for that 21 league game unbeaten run. We've added Schlotterbeck to that group.

I think the league will be a lot stronger this year though

[Fabrice29]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Oh right so in your view you're only allowed a public opinion about a signing if it's positive. No dosse ting opinions allowed.

People are allowed opinions. But I will only point out they look silly if a) their opinion includes factually incorrect usage of numbers b) based on literally zero evidence and/or c) moaning for the sake of being grumpy

Correct.

[lambtiss]

16 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

3rd place from last season Millwall with Schlotterbeck playing or us didn't.

Again, but in English please 😉

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

Peretz, Wood, Stephens, Manning snd Bree were all here playing for that 21 league game unbeaten run. We've added Schlotterbeck to that group.

And removed THB and Charles.

[sockeye]

5 minutes ago, saint-ross said:

Yep, it's quite embarrassing to see how many of our fans jump the gun and slag off/display discontent with new signings, only to look like a bunch of muppets when they're wrong. It's pretty common practise, sadly. 

If we all just nodded towards any link and said 'let's wait and see' it would be a very boring discussion. This is a football forum, the exchange of opinions is kind of the point. Is making an incorrect prediction really something to be embarrassed about?

[Farmer Saint]

43 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Football is all about opinions. For me he is our best player by quite a distance. Certainly our biggest threat from set pieces and our best defender in a back 4. More consistent than some of the other contenders too.

He's what I'm baseball is called a "Quad A player". Too good for the Championship but not good enough for the PL. 

[Baird of the land]

On the surface the move feels underwhelming

if he’s a talent and we have a guaranteed option then I guess it feels better.

otherwise it feels like deinvestment.

[VectisSaint]

13 minutes ago, Teamsaint1 said:

The money situation is doubtless very tight, especially as we have no megabuck sales this summer.  It will be very tight for any team on final year parachute payments. The owners would be remiss if they weren’t factoring in the need to try to have a top 6 level side next season if we do miss out this season, which is certainly possible.

TBH , given the above, replacing SC with JWP( which if he stays fit is a very decent swap IMO) , investing a lot of money on Dobbin, getting a  seasoned Bundesliga replacement for THB , signing  an expensive keeper, and not losing any other stars whilst making some decent profits player on trading  is about as good as it was going to get  .

JWP is not and never will be a replacement for Shea Charles. They play different positions and different games and have massively different attributes. They are like chalk and cheese, and that's no offence to JWP. Last season we had Jander and Charles to rotate, with Downes and Bragg rotating. With Jander out we will be very unbalanced and lose a lot of what made us good in 26.

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I think the league will be a lot stronger this year though

We are already above 2 of the relegated Premier League teams despite starting on -4 😉 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[Turkish]

20 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Harwood-Bellis by the time he was 20 had played about 60 games for Blackburn, Anderlecht and Stoke City.

If we use the new the brand new SaintsWeb experience measurement calculator then 60 senior games means he was Steve Ogrizovic.

Yeah but 7 of Abbots 11 appearances have been in high pressured knock out football in cup or European competitions which is far more useful than playing 60 meaningless league games where the results are less consequential than a knock out. You can learn more in one knockout game than 10 meaningless league games. He’s actually very experienced for a team like us with so much at stake 

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, James said:

Quite but the cynic in me can’t help but feel that if this lad was really close to being PL quality, they wouldn’t have all of these guys in front of him and continue to be spending huge sums on players that will push him further down the pecking order. 

The cynic in me cant help but think the other CBs aren't rated by PL sides either.

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Option not taken, guaranteed 

[Osvaldorama]

I think Spors has earned my trust now. He’s had a lot more hits than misses. 
 

If he thinks this forest CB is up to it, without spending a fortune, then his recent signings have been good enough that I won’t moan before I’ve seen them kick a ball   

[SuperSAINT]