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

[KevinGage]

The issue with Martinez is his value is probably quite low now.  Replacing him will just take up transfer capital that we don't really have and I doubt any replacement's wages will be particularly cheap.

To me, it would make more sense to kick it down the road to next summer, when hopefully we'll have qualified for CL again and have more headroom to play with.

Yes.

Particularly when you see replacements of the calibre of James Trafford being touted.

Think back just over the last two seasons when Emi has made match altering (and often world class) saves in most games.

Don't think Trafford gets to half of those.

[brontebilly]

Rashford wasn't washed up though, he was thrown under the bus by a complete fraud of a manager in Amorim.

Amorim was a fraud for sure but not in his treatment of Rashford who let down several Man United managers. There was a particular effort away at Newcastle, might have been under EtH, that was reminiscent of Gabby away at Spurs that time. Grealish admitted he sulked for a while when the Spurs move didn't happen but he never downed tools completely like Rashford did for his home club.

I’m sure there’s culpability on the other side - nothing else Rashford has done has suggested he’s the down tools type.

And regardless, if we're discussing both parties in terms of what they'd offer us going forward there's a gulf between the capabilities of the two, and Jack is on the wrong side of it.

That's fair enough, Rashford is two years younger for starters and is coming off winning a league title making a solid contribution in the process. Jack was decent at a mid table PL team for half a season or so, picked up yet another serious injury and last seen pissed as a fart yet again in a pub. Both of them spent far too much time pissing around in nightclubs and casinos to realise their potential. See them both finishing up in their early 30s.

Likely lads from England's Euros squad 20/21- Grealish, Rashford, Mount, Sancho, Phillips, Sterling - Rashford had stopped the rot but rest of them are in free fall career wise. Before then Alli, Barkley could be thrown into the mix too.

[LeeS]

If we need to raise significant cash then I’d rather sell Morgan than have to flog several of our lower value players. We can replace a single hole in the team, we’d struggle to fill three or four.

[PeterWithesShin]

Age means the squad will most likely be changing quite a bit over the next few windows.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

That depends on who you are placing in the lower value bracket.

[paul_e]

Rashford wasn't washed up though, he was thrown under the bus by a complete fraud of a manager in Amorim.

Amorim was a fraud for sure but not in his treatment of Rashford who let down several Man United managers. There was a particular effort away at Newcastle, might have been under EtH, that was reminiscent of Gabby away at Spurs that time. Grealish admitted he sulked for a while when the Spurs move didn't happen but he never downed tools completely like Rashford did for his home club.

I’m sure there’s culpability on the other side - nothing else Rashford has done has suggested he’s the down tools type.

It's also worth noting that pretty much all the stories of him having a bad attitude started right around the time Ratcliffe arrived, almost as if getting some of their highest earners out of the squad was a priority and anything that could help that happen was on the table.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Juventus originally wanted Alisson on a free as he only has 12 months on his contract and has higher wages than Juventus want to pay. They were told to do one and apparently came back with a £13m offer. Alisson is the same age as Emi but Emi has a much longer contract until 2029. Even for £20m we'd still have to spend to bring in a top replacement, Brighton's Dutch international Verbruggen is reported to be top of our list but he won't be cheap. There's certainly money to be saved on his wages which are said to currently be about £35k a week.

McGinn isn't for sale plus nobody can afford him.

Watkins is still only 30 and fitness wise there's nothing to say he can't continue at PL level for another 4 or 5 years. A good World Cup and he's got to be worth £30m - £35m even with his high wages. I'm all for sticking if we can get Abraham replaced but we'd probably only see £20m - £25m max for him. Maybe a loanee on a good fee with an option to buy for a very promising young striker is the only option. Selling Watkins and Abraham even for a combined fee of £50m - £60m is still risky business even with a loanee brought in to the squad. The problem is Watkins price will dramatically drop next summer even if he has a good season, age isn't on his side..and then there's his wages.

More than anything we really need to have a brilliant transfer window this summer. We can't afford to be throwing around our limited cash on moneyball players when everything needs to be invested on strengthening the team not the squad.

[PaulWinch again]

If we need to raise significant cash then I’d rather sell Morgan than have to flog several of our lower value players. We can replace a single hole in the team, we’d struggle to fill three or four.

It depends on wages impact. I also think we shouldn’t underestimate how bloody difficult it would be to replace Rogers. He does so much of the creative work for the team, and is the main ball carrier.

[paul_e]

Juventus originally wanted Alisson on a free as he only has 12 months on his contract and has higher wages than Juventus want to pay. They were told to do one and apparently came back with a £13m offer. Alisson is the same age as Emi but Emi has a much longer contract until 2029. Even for £20m we'd still have to spend to bring in a top replacement, Brighton's Dutch international Verbruggen is reported to be top of our list but he won't be cheap. There's certainly money to be saved on his wages which are said to currently be about £35k a week.

McGinn isn't for sale plus nobody can afford him.

Watkins is still only 30 and fitness wise there's nothing to say he can't continue at PL level for another 4 or 5 years. A good World Cup and he's got to be worth £30m - £35m even with his high wages. I'm all for sticking if we can get Abraham replaced but we'd probably only see £20m - £25m max for him. Maybe a loanee on a good fee with an option to buy for a very promising young striker is the only option. Selling Watkins and Abraham even for a combined fee of £50m - £60m is still risky business even with a loanee brought in to the squad. The problem is Watkins price will dramatically drop next summer even if he has a good season, age isn't on his side..and then there's his wages.

More than anything we really need to have a brilliant transfer window this summer. We can't afford to be throwing around our limited cash on moneyball players when everything needs to be invested on strengthening the team not the squad.

I'm not sure i agree on the last bit. Our best XI is well balanced, experienced playing together and has a record of good results. Our problems come when 1-2 of them are out of form or unavailable and the backups are largely not good enough to start a run of games. Right now we have, in my opinion, 15 players I'd trust to start a significant number of games next season:

Martinez, Bizot, Digne, Maatsen, Cash, Konsa, Pau, Lindelof, Kamara, Onana, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.

After that, Mings, Barkley, Tammy and maybe Alysson have enough about them to be worth keeping around (although I'd be happy for Mings to go if he wants more games as I think his level has started to drop now). That's 18/19 players and ideally we want 3-4 more than that. I'd keep Bogarde in the hope that he can step up another level and because he's a 'free hit' for the UEFA squad.

For me that means we only need a handful of signings and we can afford for them to be younger, take a few moths to find their feet and learn the 'Emery way'. If we make the UCL again next season then next summer is where we'll need to look at replacing a handful more of them to try and really kick on. Get the balance right this summer and through the season and we'll naturally be bringing the age of the squad down as we phase away from Mings, Lindelof, Barkley and Bizot, who are likely all going to be leaving next summer.

[SaddVillan]

https://www.kltown.co.uk/news/2026/06/08/new-signing-ronnie-hollingshead

Outgoing

[Rudy Can't Fail]

They are balanced, Paul, at least at the end of the season but you can't expect those players to be putting in 55 appearances next season. Most will be coming off a World Cup tournament and had little time to rest. Ideally we can as you said bring in 3 or 4 quality players who can automatically drop in without a fall in quality.

I'm expecting Oscar Mingueza to be first in through the door who covers for Cash and Konsa.

[paul_e]

Yep, so making more of the squad be on the level where they can play for an extended run of games butthe problems if we don't do that will come in the 2nd half of the season, which is why i think we can give signings this summer a little bit of time that won't be true next summer.

[Ozzjim]

I think this is the summer where we actually could do with a mix of 2-3 first team ready players at younger (24-25) ages and 2-3 moneyball style younger players (18-22) that can integrate and potentially make us a very decent profit going forward. Realistically Emi, Torres, Konsa, Youri, Watkins, McGinn, Cash and Digne all need to be replaced in the next 2-3 seasons. That's not counting Mings, Barkley, Buendia, Bailey, Lindelof who are all of an age that sits in that bracket too. This summer 3-4 players need to come in sub 25 that start that road to replace some of the above. With our budget some will have to be calculated risks

[Sexual Ealing]

Is it too much to ask to find someone at Gainsborough Trinity with the talent of Jhon Duran and the temperament of James Milner?

[brontebilly]

That point about whether we can expect 50+ games again next season from some of these players is a key one. Plus last season lots of those EL teams were very poor. Cruising through mid week games isn't an option in the CL.

The transfer window is going to be very difficult with the World Cup anyway. Are financial restrictions that tight that realistically we would need to sell Rogers before considering buying quality like MGW?

I'd be concerned (thanks Smirker) that we may have seen an Indian summer from Ollie over the past couple of months. If I recall correctly it took him ages to get going after the last Euros. Tammy sadly seemed miles off it but maybe a hard pre season can get him going. Not going to go on about Kamara/Onana again. Cash and McGinn with no competition on the right side many have touched on. There's glaring holes in our squad that need addressing and we should be looking to move a number on, Mings included, for me

Try to enjoy the world cup knockouts first I guess!