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

[tomd2103]

I’d be disappointed / underwhelmed with Harry Wilson. He’s fine, nothing special, and 29.

No transfer fee, summer off and he would surely be better than Bailey, Sancho, Guessand

I think we need a higher bar than better than Bailey, Sancho and Guessand. Using crisp packets as oven gloves would surely be better than your bear hands.

All we need from Wilson is what Lindelof has given us this year, just in the attacking positions. The breaks that will allow our first choice players will sustain us longer and means we harvest more points, the absence of a fee means we can spend in addition.

It's a no brainer for us, in our position.

Yep, would be a back up to McGinn on the right and can play at number 10 as well.  'Number 10' is the position I'd be looking to invest heavily in the summer if we can afford to (with Rogers going out to his more natural position on the left) and honestly think that Gibbs-White would be the ideal target. 

[Sexual Ealing]

Who's buying Dobbin, for example? Whoever it is will be offering significantly less than his current deal.

You reckon? His current deal is supposedly around £20k per week, so less than the Championship average. He's 23 and just popped in ten goals from the wing for a lower mid-table side.

I'd be surprised if he's not getting a wage increase wherever he goes next.

The Championship average is more than £20k per week?! Fucking hell. Ignore me then.

[Somniloquism]

Obviously various caveats on the accuracies but this site shows Dobbin on 17.5k with several pages of 100 players each below him, and around 150 odd players above him.

https://www.capology.com/uk/championship/salaries/

[Dave]

Who's buying Dobbin, for example? Whoever it is will be offering significantly less than his current deal.

You reckon? His current deal is supposedly around £20k per week, so less than the Championship average. He's 23 and just popped in ten goals from the wing for a lower mid-table side.

I'd be surprised if he's not getting a wage increase wherever he goes next.

The Championship average is more than £20k per week?! Fucking hell. Ignore me then.

Actually, it's not quite that much - more like £15k per week having looked a bit deeper. West Brom's wage bill (so not one with recent history of big wage earners hanging around from former Premier League days, is £20m. Nat Phillips (?) was supposedly given £40k per week when he joined from Liverpool last summer.

So when you consider that average wage is going to be skewed by lots of clubs padding their squads with youth teamers on £2-3k per week, he'd definitely be moving for an amount no worse than he's currently getting.

[Demitri_C]

With world up and alot of our players  going we certainly  need more than the rumoured four coming in.

Fatigue amd injuries could be a issue next season so we need to ensure we have the squad big enough to cope. Maybe a playerlike samuel illing jr can come in from the dark like buendia and offer something

[Dave]

With world up and alot of our players  going we certainly  need more than the rumoured four coming in.

Anyone we lose from the first team squad needs to be replaced, but in terms of supplementing what we already have and are using - four extra feels about right to me.

An younger right-back to provide better competition for Cash
A younger centre-back to ease Mings out
Two attackers, at least one with pace to "replace" Bailey / Sancho, one to start taking the workload of McGinn for the less important games (presumably this is Wilson).

Obviously if we sell Martinez or Rogers, then they need to be replaced too. But there are four obvious areas of need as things stand.

[Mister E]

Pretty sure it would be Wilson plus one more. Wilson being an insurance policy for the riskier/younger ‘one more’ and also cover for McGinn.

Alysson, Broggio, Young ... we have the younger options here already.

[tomd2103]

With world up and alot of our players  going we certainly  need more than the rumoured four coming in.

Anyone we lose from the first team squad needs to be replaced, but in terms of supplementing what we already have and are using - four extra feels about right to me.

An younger right-back to provide better competition for Cash
A younger centre-back to ease Mings out
Two attackers, at least one with pace to "replace" Bailey / Sancho, one to start taking the workload of McGinn for the less important games (presumably this is Wilson).

Obviously if we sell Martinez or Rogers, then they need to be replaced too. But there are four obvious areas of need as things stand.

Would add a defensive midfielder as back up for Kamara.  Not sold on Bogarde being the answer to be honest.

[Dave]

With world up and alot of our players  going we certainly  need more than the rumoured four coming in.

Anyone we lose from the first team squad needs to be replaced, but in terms of supplementing what we already have and are using - four extra feels about right to me.

An younger right-back to provide better competition for Cash
A younger centre-back to ease Mings out
Two attackers, at least one with pace to "replace" Bailey / Sancho, one to start taking the workload of McGinn for the less important games (presumably this is Wilson).

Obviously if we sell Martinez or Rogers, then they need to be replaced too. But there are four obvious areas of need as things stand.

Would add a defensive midfielder as back up for Kamara.  Not sold on Bogarde being the answer to be honest.

Think the last couple of weeks suggest that Lindelof is now that Kamara back-up. And whether we're sold on Bogarde or not, he's clearly part of the furniture so unless someone wants to buy him then I don't see us pushing him out.

And he gets us up to 22 players rather than 21 in our Champions League squad (not that we haven't been able to use him in Europe up to now or anything, but it's nice to fill the spaces up)

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Some really tough decisions are probably going to be needed this summer due to our ageing squad and due to our financial restrictions. Sentimentality is going to have to take a back seat which is brutal considering how we've finished the season. The Premier League don't allow you to stand still, such is the money being thrown around, every club will continue to bring in more technically gifted players from around the world. I just hope that we can start delivering off the pitch through our recruitment. Reducing the ridiculous fees we've been overpaying to agents would also go a long way in helping stretch whatever budget we have available.

Any potential signing who watched us on Wednesday night and knowing we're in next season's Champions League should be giving us serious consideration. Wages need to be controlled, no more silly money on risky loan deals, even paying Lindelof a reported £120k a week (the same as he was earning at ManU) seems extreme to sit on the bench for most of the season. He was a free agent and hadn't found a new club with less than a week before the transfer window closed. It makes the 70k offer to Jacob Ramsey crazy. Of course he was brilliant these last few weeks but it just seemed a perfect example of how we like to throw money around when we're counting the pennies and driving up the cost of matchday tickets.

Over to you, Roberto Olabe.

[Sexual Ealing]

^^I think Lindelof was pretty much in the door at Everton before we moved for him.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

^^I think Lindelof was pretty much in the door at Everton before we moved for him.

Nah, he turned them down though Fiorentina were interested if he'd take a pay cut.

[Dave]

^^I think Lindelof was pretty much in the door at Everton before we moved for him.

Nah, he turned them down though Fiorentina were interested if he'd take a pay cut.

But that does suggest that he was specifically waiting for an offer that he thought was worth accepting, rather than the contract he accepted from us being the first thing that landed in his lap.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Not sure we will bring many new players in.

Can see us playing the free transfer market well with Wilson and Mingueza but that would probably take our wage bill to the max without shifting a few players on.

We already signed Tammy as competition for Watkins, and have some young players to give cover. Do not think will sign another unless Watkins goes.

Would not be surprised to see Martinez leave if a decent offer came in, as he is a big earner. However I think it is more likely he stays now.

Could do with moving Bailey, Illing Jr, Dobbin, Mings on or at least loan out to reduce the wage bill.

Absolutely do not want to see massive wages going out to loan players again. We could do a lot worse than try and bring in Grealish and Rashford for low fees, that would be better than taking on the wages on loans.

Emery likes to rehabilitate players, maybe he could get some form out of Calvin Phillips? We need cover at DM and he was excellent at Leeds.

With Villa the best signings are always unexpected ones. Rogers, Yorke types on low fees. McGraph, Lindelof types. Or youth players stepping up.

If we sign a couple of free signings, trade a few players out and bring in a couple more I think we will be fine so long as some of the younger players start to step up.

[enigma]

maybe he could get some form out of Calvin Phillips? We need cover at DM and he was excellent at Leeds.

Good God man! Have you lost your mind?