Summer 26 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[Rigadon]

Pretty incredible to end up being favourites for a CL spot when our incomings over the past year have been so poor.

Yep.  It shows again how amazing our core squad has been over the last few years, as was also evidenced when we lost a few of them for a couple of months this season. 

[Olneythelonely]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

[Dave]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

While those things are the most important, I think you can also add that had Spurs / Chelsea / Liverpool not all completely shat the bed (relative to the resources) at a convenient time for us then with a similar season we could be sixth right now and still be very happy with how well the season was going.

[Dante Lavelli]

Wilson IN Bailey OUT and £20k better off in wages each week.   It's a no brainer to me, and I don't expect Wilson to be that great either.

The difficulty will be shifting Bailey. Even then, there's some cash down the back of the sofa from Elliot and Sanchos loans ending.

[TheToffnar]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

While those things are the most important, I think you can also add that had Spurs / Chelsea / Liverpool not all completely shat the bed (relative to the resources) at a convenient time for us then with a similar season we could be sixth right now and still be very happy with how well the season was going.

Yep. We've done well, but dumb luck has played it's part as much as anything this season, particularly since January. 6 or 7 weekends where results going our way has kept us in it.

[PaulWinch again]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

While those things are the most important, I think you can also add that had Spurs / Chelsea / Liverpool not all completely shat the bed (relative to the resources) at a convenient time for us then with a similar season we could be sixth right now and still be very happy with how well the season was going.

Yep agree - it is remarkable how much Unai has achieved when you look at the utter non-impact of any of the attacking signings we made in the summer. But also had the other teams not been hopeless it would have been challenging.

[paul_e]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

While those things are the most important, I think you can also add that had Spurs / Chelsea / Liverpool not all completely shat the bed (relative to the resources) at a convenient time for us then with a similar season we could be sixth right now and still be very happy with how well the season was going.

Yep. We've done well, but dumb luck has played it's part as much as anything this season, particularly since January. 6 or 7 weekends where results going our way has kept us in it.

Nope, that's absolute rubbish. It's nothing to do with luck, teams that are capable of winning 5-6 in a row, not winning for 5 or 6 in row and everything in between are, by definition, inconsistent. All that has happened in the last few months is a continuation of that, with us adding a little more inconsistency ourselves (mainly due to key injuries) and Man Utd have a bit of a longer new manager bounce than expected.

Putting it down as luck suggests the manager and squad don't deserve to be where we are when the opposite is true, with luck on our side to not see almost our entire midfield out injured at once we'd be clear in 3rd and likely still in the title race.

[Smithy]

Whilst I agree about the core of the squad, I think what it mainly shows is the utter genius of Unai.

While those things are the most important, I think you can also add that had Spurs / Chelsea / Liverpool not all completely shat the bed (relative to the resources) at a convenient time for us then with a similar season we could be sixth right now and still be very happy with how well the season was going.

Yep. We've done well, but dumb luck has played it's part as much as anything this season, particularly since January. 6 or 7 weekends where results going our way has kept us in it.

Nope, that's absolute rubbish. It's nothing to do with luck, teams that are capable of winning 5-6 in a row, not winning for 5 or 6 in row and everything in between are, by definition, inconsistent. All that has happened in the last few months is a continuation of that, with us adding a little more inconsistency ourselves (mainly due to key injuries) and Man Utd have a bit of a longer new manager bounce than expected.

Putting it down as luck suggests the manager and squad don't deserve to be where we are when the opposite is true, with luck on our side to not see almost our entire midfield out injured at once we'd be clear in 3rd and likely still in the title race.

I think luck evens out over the course of a season (generally speaking), but it's also true to say the league is a lot closer in the mid-table this season, which in turn means it will take fewer points to get into the top 5 positions.  Someone could finish in the top 5 with a points total in the 50s.  Last year, we missed out on 66 points. 

We still need 8 points from our last 5 games to beat our points total from last season, in which we finished 6th.  Two wins, two draws and a loss from our last 5 games.  It's entirely possible we don't get that, especially if CL is confirmed early, and we change focus to the Europa League.  So we could quite easily end up with a higher league position, but a lower points total than last season.

I'm not saying that's "luck", but we will definitely have benefited from a much tighter league.  To be clear, the title winners will also have benefited. Unless one of the top two wins every remaining game, the league winners will have the lowest points total since Leicester, and the 3rd lowest total in the last 20 years.

The entire league has benefited from the "top 6" being mostly mediocre this season, as it's brought the whole league closer together.

[paul_e]

I agree with all of that and it also leans into my point that where we are isn't about luck, it's about us and Man Utd being the 2 strongest of the pack of teams that were chasing European spots, despite also being fairly inconsistent ourselves.

[Dante Lavelli]

Assuming CL qualification, I can see us pushing for a Rashford-style loan again. A difference making player but without the commitment to pay them for the next 3 to 4 years. 

Absolutely no idea who, other than Rashford himself I suppose.  Anyone on the fringes of the Madrid/Barca squads that might be available?

[Smithy]

I agree with all of that and it also leans into my point that where we are isn't about luck, it's about us and Man Utd being the 2 strongest of the pack of teams that were chasing European spots, despite also being fairly inconsistent ourselves.

Yep, agree with that.  After all, you can only beat who is in front of you, and in that pack we've been slightly better at it than them.  It's been over 20 years since a team finished in the top 5 with less than 60 points, and it's also amazing we're almost at the end of April, with 4 or 5 games to go, and the team in 12th still has realistic hopes of European football. It's all very congested, which makes it much more interesting, I think.

It's a bit like the Leicester season, lots of mediocre sides, but Leicester were less mediocre than everyone else.  You can look at it as they beat everyone put in front of them that season with no luck involved, or you can say they were lucky that they peaked in a season when the normal challengers were all mediocre.  It's a far cry from Man City and Liverpool all getting well in the 90s, season after season (thankfully).  It seems bonkers today that Liverpool got 97 points one season and DIDN'T win the league... but then maybe that season they benefited from a bottom half of the league all being dross and easy to hammer week in week out.

[paul_e]

I agree with all of that and it also leans into my point that where we are isn't about luck, it's about us and Man Utd being the 2 strongest of the pack of teams that were chasing European spots, despite also being fairly inconsistent ourselves.

Yep, agree with that.  After all, you can only beat who is in front of you, and in that pack we've been slightly better at it than them.  It's been over 20 years since a team finished in the top 5 with less than 60 points, and it's also amazing we're almost at the end of April, with 4 or 5 games to go, and the team in 12th still has realistic hopes of European football. It's all very congested, which makes it much more interesting, I think.

It's a bit like the Leicester season, lots of mediocre sides, but Leicester were less mediocre than everyone else.  You can look at it as they beat everyone put in front of them that season with no luck involved, or you can say they were lucky that they peaked in a season when the normal challengers were all mediocre.  It's a far cry from Man City and Liverpool all getting well in the 90s, season after season (thankfully).  It seems bonkers today that Liverpool got 97 points one season and DIDN'T win the league... but then maybe that season they benefited from a bottom half of the league all being dross and easy to hammer week in week out.

This year i don't think it's about mediocrity but rather the exact opposite, it's that the quality in the bottom half has increased massively and it's dragged the top half back to condense the league. If you look at the squads for some of the teams down in 11-15th there's some really good players in there and those teams are capable of some top performances, which is hown by teams in 13th and 16th being in European Semi-finals and England topping the coefficient by miles. Where things fall down is that the very best clubs in other leagues have an easier time and more concentrated 'power' which nudges them slightly ahead at the very end of the champions league.

[Sexual Ealing]

I agree with paul_e.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Yeah, I don't buy that the league is weaker at all.

[garyellis]

I agree with paul_e.

Me too 110%