Winter 25-26 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Ads]

Onana would walk into most midfields in the league. As would Tielemans and Kamara too. And absolutely everybody would have a McGinn- every managers favourite. When you have the best midfield in the league, you're always going to have a step down in quality with Bogarde and Barkley. Both will be deputising for Onana and Dougie for 2 months.

We definitely have had it worse, like the last time we qualified for the Champions League.

[Dave]

Getting Luiz match fit is obviously critical, not sure how long that will take.

He started and played seventy minutes of the game less than a week ago.

There's no reason to think he won't start on Sunday and pick up more or less where he left off.

[Smithy]

It's not a top 6/7 midfield either with glaring limitations. Luiz has been anonymous for 2 years. It's a big ask to see him resurrected but I don't doubt that if there is still a player there then Emery will coax it out.

A huge question mark hangs over him though, what Luiz are we getting?

People seem to forget we qualified for the Champions League in 2024 with regular midfield appearances from Callum Chambers and Tim Iroebugnam.   Kamara, Youri and McGinn are HUGE losses. But the drop-off from first choice to reserve is not as significant as it was in 2024.

A midfield pairing of Onana and Luiz is perfectly capable of top 4 quality.  Then we have Barkley and Bogarde as reserves for our reserves.

[London Villan]

Qualifying for the CL needs to be the aim now - losing our first-choice midfield puts an end to any hope of a title challenge.

If we can progress in the FA Cup and EL over the next two month, having SJM and Teilemans back could be the difference between winning a trophy or not.

[PeterWithe]

I think Bogarde has the promise, with a run of games, to become a player of the quality that wont look out of place in the CL. And I reckon UE shares that view, because if he didn't, he'd have been sacrificed to the PSR gods by now.

[Duncan Shaw]

And I think he'll give Hemmings a start tonight.

[Dante Lavelli]

Luiz needs to hit the ground running because if we're honest with ourselves a midfield of Bogarde, Onana and Barkley is crap.

If fit, half the league would take that midfield three, maybe more. It’s very well balanced.

[Smithy]

Luiz needs to hit the ground running because if we're honest with ourselves a midfield of Bogarde, Onana and Barkley is crap.

If fit, half the league would take that midfield three, maybe more. It’s very well balanced.

Indeed. It's also worth bearing in mind that this 'replacement' midfield doesn't need to maintain title-winning form (given injuries have probably robbed us of an 11 capable of that sort of challenge).  So with the title now just a slim possibility, we focus on our secondary aim - CL football.  To achieve that, our replacement midfield doesn't even need to maintain top 4 form.  Given our points advantage, it just needs to maintain top 8 form, and we should be fine for qualifying for the Champions League. 

And as you say, it's a midfield that is perfectly capable of doing that.

[Clark W Griswold]

That midfield is in no way crap, it's bloody good. It's just not as good as the midfield with the three injuries. Luiz coming back in, probably for Bogarde will make it even better.

[Pat Mustard]

At the risk of sounding too happy-clappy, I think we need to stop looking at ourselves in isolation.  Losing Kamara, Tielemans and McGinn at the same time is a huge blow, but equally it means we are going into the very busy next 7-8 weeks with a largely fresh set of midfielders - a lot of our opposition won't have that luxury. 

Any combination of Onana, Bogarde, Barkley and Luiz is a midfield that would be first choice for over half the teams in the league, with Hemmings as back up and more wide options than we have had up to now (Bailey back, Sancho hitting some form).  The change in personnel also throws up a few more questions for opponents over the next few games, who can't necessarily analyse our performances over the last few months and apply them to how we will look in Feb-March.

We then also get McGinn and Tielemans back and fresh for the run-in, and hopefully having to fight for their starting berths due to the form the others have shown.  If we can just keep pace over the next 6 or 7 weeks then this will still be a very special season.

[cdbearsfan]

We don't have that midfield for all those games though. No Luiz tonight or against Newcastle, and we don't actually know when Barkley will be available to play.

[SamTheMouse]

Looking at it glass-half-full, this is one of those rare opportunities to give one or two younger players a proper go. We'll  soon see whether they've got what it takes.

[Pat Mustard]

We don't have that midfield for all those games though. No Luiz tonight or against Newcastle, and we don't actually know when Barkley will be available to play.

In the grand scheme of things tonight is no more than an inconvenience, and a chance to maybe blood Hemmings.  Barkley should be available after this weekend by the sounds of it, and the FA cup-tied rule has changed so unless I'm reading it wrong there is no reason why Luiz can't play against Newcastle?

[Dave]

We don't have that midfield for all those games though. No Luiz tonight or against Newcastle, and we don't actually know when Barkley will be available to play.

In the grand scheme of things tonight is no more than an inconvenience, and a chance to maybe blood Hemmings.  Barkley should be available after this weekend by the sounds of it, and the FA cup-tied rule has changed so unless I'm reading it wrong there is no reason why Luiz can't play against Newcastle?

Nah, FA Cup still has the cup-tied rule I believe.

[Chris Smith]

We don't have that midfield for all those games though. No Luiz tonight or against Newcastle, and we don't actually know when Barkley will be available to play.

I think the FA Cup game might well see both teams rotating their squad, us for obvious reasons and Newcastle are facing the CL play-offs in Feb.