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

[ASHTONVILLA]

Hull and Trabzonspor linked with Guessand this morning, maybe that explains the links to Espi.

Am I the only person that can see some merit in switching out 30 year old Watkins for Jackson? Jackson is a good player, and much younger.

[eamonn]

We're not getting Jackson for 2 reasons, we can't loan another player from Chelsea & if we sign him within 45 days of the Rogers deal for £65m it's classed as a swap & drastically reduces the profit on that deal. The whole reason for selling Rogers was to book the profit. The 46th day is the day after the window closes.

Fingers-crossed!

[Smithy]

Hull and Trabzonspor linked with Guessand this morning, maybe that explains the links to Espi.

Am I the only person that can see some merit in switching out 30 year old Watkins for Jackson? Jackson is a good player, and much younger.

There is merit in that you would hope the transfer fees would be comparable for PSR purposts, and Jackson is much younger - BUT - you're swapping a known Premier League performer, one who guarantees you 15+ league goals every season, for one who still has question marks over his ability to perform in his league.  That's a BIG risk to take.

If Unai wants to do it, then fine, I'll back him, but Ollie is so central to the way we play and press, that it feels like a MASSIVE gamble to change him in the season where there is going to be so much change already.

But, as always, in Unai we trust.

[Sexual Ealing]

Nobody guarantees us anything. Keeping Watkins is as much of a gamble as replacing him. It's not like he can fall back on his technique if his body starts to decline.

[kippaxvilla2]

Re Jackson it is a big no from me.  Whilst I obviously hero worship Unai he did sign Pepe for £70m.

[Mister E]

It's the price I baulk at: even if the authorities allow us to bring Jackson in without it affecting what we can book for Rogers, £65m seems excessive for a player who has yet to prove he can play PL football and score goals.
Why give Abraham a - was it 4 or 5 years? - long term contract 8 months ago and then spend £65m for Jackson? It doesn't make sense to me.

I'd prefer to bring in Espi, keep Watkins for 12 more months and sell Abraham.
Watkins goes in July 2027.

If Watkins forces a move now, bring in Espi, keep Abraham and get Espi and Brian up to speed over the course of the season. Spend the Watkins money on another RHS player.

[Mister E]

Re Jackson it is a big no from me.  Whilst I obviously hero worship Unai he did sign Pepe for £70m.

I think Pepe was signed over his head; Emery wanted Saha.

[andyh]

Hull and Trabzonspor linked with Guessand this morning, maybe that explains the links to Espi.

Sorry….being thick here. How does Guessand link explain the Espi link ?

[eamonn]

Re Jackson it is a big no from me.  Whilst I obviously hero worship Unai he did sign Pepe for £70m.

I think Pepe was signed over his head; Emery wanted Saha.

Louis was old and shit by then, think you mean Wilfried Zaha.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Hull and Trabzonspor linked with Guessand this morning, maybe that explains the links to Espi.

Sorry….being thick here. How does Guessand link explain the Espi link ?

Money in money out. Not suggesting they are like for like, just that if we are able to sell we are able to buy.

[Smithy]

Nobody guarantees us anything. Keeping Watkins is as much of a gamble as replacing him. It's not like he can fall back on his technique if his body starts to decline.

Yes, "guarantees" is probably too strong a way to put it. 

But with Ollie he's a known quantity. We know what we're getting. Some frustrating performances, but also goals. The chances of him dropping off physically this season are small (he's only 30), but they're also not zero.  He's always looked after himself, shown himself to be pretty resistant to injury, so I'd expect him to have another couple of seasons without any significant drop off in his physical attributes.  32+? Then, maybe, yes, but he'd had very little sell-on value by that point, so I guess if we want his fee to cover the cost of his replacement, it might be we have to sell him and watch him have a couple of good seasons elsewhere while wondering "what if?" if things back home don't go as well as we'd hope.

[Smithy]

Re Jackson it is a big no from me.  Whilst I obviously hero worship Unai he did sign Pepe for £70m.

I think Pepe was signed over his head; Emery wanted Saha.

Louis was old and shit by then, think you mean Wilfried Zaha.

Yes, Unai was interviewed in 2020.  This is what he said about the Pepe/Zaha transfers:

“I had a meeting with Zaha, the Palace player. He was the player I wanted because I could see that he won so many games on his own,”

“I saw 20 Zaha games, some incredible performances and I told them that this is the player that I want for this team.

“I spoke to Zaha. I had been with him personally. And he wanted to come.

“But the club decided that Pepe was younger, he was one for the future. I said: ‘yes, but we need to win now and this lad [Zaha] wins games’. He did it to us!”

Edit: Worth noting that Zaha's best two seasons in the premier league came in the two seasons after Unai tried to buy him.

[paul_e]

Hull and Trabzonspor linked with Guessand this morning, maybe that explains the links to Espi.

Sorry….being thick here. How does Guessand link explain the Espi link ?

Money in money out. Not suggesting they are like for like, just that if we are able to sell we are able to buy.

Money isn't really what matters now, it's more about squad size. We still have too many players in our first team squad, despite it feeling like a fairly small squad. That's because there are a lot of fringe players we need to shift out.

We have 27 players listed right now and if some of those were to leave (Digne for example) they'd need to be replaced but Guessand, Bailey and Iling-Junior are basically 3 players taking up the same spot, Gauci is taking up a spot despite being behind Wright as it stands. We need to move these guys out and get back to the squad being players who are either actively part of the team or are at least players we're building towards it (Cisse, Alysson, Ned, Bogarde).

That would get us down to 23 (although 22 really until we get cover for Onana) and would open things up where we could go for someone like Espi and then potentially another winger/10/midfielder in the mould of SJM who can fill a bunch of roles as needed (unless they see Manzambi as that, in which case we need someone to fill the Rogers gap still). We then be at the point of sell to buy but more in the manner of only really needing to replace anyone else that leasves because the squad would look pretty set.

[frank black]

There isn’t an Espi link, is there? Apart from some spurious Twitter chats. Or have things moved on

[paul_e]

Probably not, but if we're in the market for a striker I'd prefer it to be someone around that age who can spend a year forcing his way into contention ahead of us looking to move one or both of Ollie and Tammy out next summer (which I think is the right time for Ollie).