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

[Dave]

If that wage is correct then, then I'd keep as "Trafford" would want similar, so what's the point.   Not sure where I got £200k from!

I'd be more curious as to where the £116k figure is from, as it feels far too low. Our most recent annual wage bill from the club accounts is £273,000,000.

Obviously that isn't just a first-team squad, but club staff as well. Most of the thousand or so people who aren't players or senior first-team staff will be getting less annually than a first-team players earns in a year. Even so, let's say for the sake of argument that the first team squad accounts for £200,000,000 of that (happy to be yelled at if this feels too high or too low, but it would give an average for 900 employees of £80,000 per annum, which for me still feels like I'm being generous as there will obviously be lots of people on much less than that).

£200,000,000 divided by thirty players = £6.5m annually per player. Obviously we have many, many players in our top thirty earners who aren't earning £125,000 per week. So logically there needs to be some players earning significantly more than that, as that £273m is definitely going somewhere. And it's probably not bonuses for till staff in the club shop.

[ASHTONVILLA]

I am in two minds over Martinez leaving.

I was really annoyed with him at the start of the season, both for his performance against Manchester United and for his agitating for a move there. I suspect the mood in the squad was affected by it, and that may have had something to do with our bad start to the season.

However he played well this season, better than last, and has clearly made amends now.

There is no doubt he is a good player, and will be good for a couple more seasons yet. However he is reportedly on £7m a year (about 130k a week) and we are right at the top of the allowed wage spend. This I think is the reason we are prepared to shift him on. Ditto Digne who we also tried to shift last summer. Indeed we may even have told Martinez to find a move last season, which may explain his antics.

The problem is that although letting him go will help with the wage bill, we still need to replace him, which will add to the wage bill and involve a substantial transfer fee. We might well be able to get a good (but not as good) younger keeper in on a lower wage, but it might blow half of any meagre transfer budget.

On balance I'd rather keep him unless he brings in a reasonable transfer fee (£15-20M) and we get a decent player in. We were linked with Lammens last year, and he has done well at Man Utd. We were also linked with Chevallier and I have seen us linked again recently.

Whatever happens I hope it is settled soon, the uncertainty wont help the team.

[Brend'Watkins]

Too many ifs there. Keep Martinez at all costs, get rid of other players, Guessand for instance. If we want to improve and achieve more than last season we’re not doing that by getting rid of our best players.

[ChicagoLion]

Our best player was Andy Gray, we didn’t do too bad after he left.

[Dick Edwards]

Our best player was Andy Gray, we didn’t do too bad after he left.

True, but we received a British record transfer fee for him, which significantly helped towards replacing him (with Peter Withe). We were also very fortunate at the same time to have a top young talent in Gary Shaw coming through.

[ADVILLAFAN]

I just can't see how we could find a replacement anywhere near as good as Dibu. Throw in that you'd likely have to pay a transfer fee for his replacement and therefore the saving in wages wouldn't be worthwhile.

Think he's only 33 as well, so fairly young for a GK.

[algy]

He obviously wants to go

THEY WROOOOONNNG!


Suspect it's more a case that he was unsettled last summer (by us, because we were in dire straits financially).  Hopefully the Champs League money, money from winning the Europa League, and money for finishing 4th will keep the wolves at bay for a bit longer.

I'd really rather keep the best goalkeeper we've ever had, thanks.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Wasn’t sure where to put this but have we changed some of the medical team with Arse picking up our former doc ?

Think 2 or 3 of our medical team including physio, have gone to Arsenal.

[SamTheMouse]

I just can't see how we could find a replacement anywhere near as good as Dibu. Throw in that you'd likely have to pay a transfer fee for his replacement and therefore the saving in wages wouldn't be worthwhile.

Think he's only 33 as well, so fairly young for a GK.

Yep, agree with all of this.