Realistic Transfer Targets (2025/26)

[Deuce]

Hall was a half decent pickup despite signing from a cartel club, turns out. Willock, too.

 

Could name at least a few fringe players at each cartel club who’d be very good additions for the right price.

[Dr. TC]

4 minutes ago, Deuce said:

Hall was a half decent pickup despite signing from a cartel club, turns out. Willock, too.

 

Could name at least a few fringe players at each cartel club who’d be very good additions for the right price.

Both very young though. Different situation. 

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, Deuce said:

Hall was a half decent pickup despite signing from a cartel club, turns out. Willock, too.

 

Could name at least a few fringe players at each cartel club who’d be very good additions for the right price.

That’s key and in a reasonable time frame. We can’t hang around being taken for a ride again or getting into bidding wars and then having the rug pulled  from under us once we’ve spent time and energy chasing any of these possible fringe cartel players. 

[Weezertron]

16 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

This is true but they may be significantly better players than those who've never played top flight football

Fair. In that case, lets keep on doing what we've been doing. 

[joeyt]

I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit but I think if you just buy talented youngsters then you end up as a bit of a Brighton, Bournemouth type club

 

I'm not convinced anyone can say Hackney has a higher ceiling than Curtis Jones

[Funtime Frankie]

16 minutes ago, joeyt said:

I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit but I think if you just buy talented youngsters then you end up as a bit of a Brighton, Bournemouth type club

 

I'm not convinced anyone can say Hackney has a higher ceiling than Curtis Jones

I would counter this by saying if you can attract youngsters and bring regular European football and challenge for trophies you are likely to keep hold of these youngsters for longer.

 

Also if we increase revenue at a good rate we can pay these players so they won't leave unless for silly money.

[Holmesy]

I think Jones is a good talent and would be an adequate replacement for Tonali but as others have pointed out, he's nothing we haven't seen before and we're pretty well stocked in the box-to-box midfielder department.
Just shooting the shit but if you consider what midfielders with specialist positions like Wharton + MGW would do for our midfield options instead (unrealistic I know), we go from being able to field different personnel in a flat midfield 3 to a lot more variety.

 

I know, elephant in the room, right...

[joeyt]

6 minutes ago, Funtime Frankie said:

I would counter this by saying if you can attract youngsters and bring regular European football and challenge for trophies you are likely to keep hold of these youngsters for longer.

 

Also if we increase revenue at a good rate we can pay these players so they won't leave unless for silly money.

 

Of course you are but it's not as easy as that though is it?

 

Otherwise Brighton and Bournemouth wouldn't have to sell their players every year

[duo]

Please God tell him to join Newcastle

[TRC]

1 minute ago, duo said:

Please God tell him to join Newcastle

Would love us to punt on Endrick. Could be a flop, could be a superstar.

[duo]

11 minutes ago, TRC said:

Would love us to punt on Endrick. Could be a flop, could be a superstar.

Some of his play at Lyon this season - I know it's a highlights clip but.... looks built for the PL

 

 

 

Edited May 5 by duo

[Beren]

Yeah but Willock has more height. NO THANK YOU ENDRICK.

[SteV]

[John P]

Looks like he's been playing a fair bit on the right wing... Weren't we weirdly getting linked with him about a year ago?

[SUPERTOON]

33 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

Of course you are but it's not as easy as that though is it?

 

Otherwise Brighton and Bournemouth wouldn't have to sell their players every year

Isn’t that what we look like we are going to do anyways? Isak last year, Gordon and probably one of Tino or Tonali this year ? 

[TRon]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

Isn’t that what we look like we are going to do anyways? Isak last year, Gordon and probably one of Tino or Tonali this year ? 

 

 

Pretty sure that's the blueprint on how we can close the gap with the cartel clubs, i.e. trading players successfully until we have a team of superstars.

 

Although of course they can do the same thing only they will have more money to chuck at it. 

[Ikon]

Also, I'd like to imagine that some of the younger players we are looking at are on a higher level from the off, compared to say Brighton for example. Young players with already good quality and a massive ceiling potentially. Jones is exactly the type of player I really hope we stay away from. Not necessarily because he's shite or anything. 

[joeyt]

6 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Isn’t that what we look like we are going to do anyways? Isak last year, Gordon and probably one of Tino or Tonali this year ? 

 

We paid huge amounts of money for those players

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, joeyt said:

 

We paid huge amounts of money for those players

Aye we did, but other than Tonali, the other 3 needed major development. Surely it’s not too dissimilar to what Bournemouth and Brighton do? They have both still spent big money as well tbf. 

[joeyt]

10 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Aye we did, but other than Tonali, the other 3 needed major development. Surely it’s not too dissimilar to what Bournemouth and Brighton do? They have both still spent big money as well tbf. 

 

Yet Brighton and Bournemouth haven't got anywhere near winning trophies or qualifying regularly for Europe like a previous poster said

[joeyt]

I think my point is that a lot of fans go a bit too far with their Football Manager specs on and an exciting (usually foreign) young player doesn't mean they're better for us than already more established players just because they sound sexier on paper

 

Originally I was querying why Hayden Hackney (24 next month and never played in the top division) would be seen as a good signing yet 25 year old Curtis Jones (England international, CL experience, twice PL winner) is written off as not a good signing

 

 

Edited May 5 by joeyt

[Kimbo]

2 hours ago, TheInfiniteOdyssey said:

Some players with contracts expiring in two years time:

• Scalvini (Atalanta)

• Kees Smit (AZ)

• Verbruggen (Brighton)
• Alex Scott (Bournemouth)
• Malick Fofana (Lyon)

• Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta)

• Schade (Brentford)

• Charlie Cresswell (Toulouse)

• Kang-in Lee (PSG)

• Frattesi (Inter Milan)

I’d take Alex Scott. Smit will be beyond us.

[Funtime Frankie]

1 hour ago, joeyt said:

 

Of course you are but it's not as easy as that though is it?

 

Otherwise Brighton and Bournemouth wouldn't have to sell their players every year

But Brighton and Bournemouth haven't ever been in European competitions and if they do get in I assume it to be a flash in the pan.

 

We have been in champions league twice in past three years, have a larger international and national following and greater history than both these clubs so that will assist in keeping players longer.

 

I do caveat all of this by saying every club in the world is a feeder club for Real and Barcelona, because ultimately nearly all players want to play for these teams.

[Conjo]

2 hours ago, joeyt said:

I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit but I think if you just buy talented youngsters then you end up as a bit of a Brighton, Bournemouth type club

 

 

Only if you keep selling the ones who break through. No club is immune to losing their best players unless you're the top 3-4 elite clubs in the world, but we're in a significantly better position than the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth to do it.

 

F.ex, if we were Bournemouth, we might have had to sell one of Semenyo, Zabarnyi, Huijsen or Kerkez, but I'm very confident that one of those out had meant the rest would have been told to stay.

[Chicken Dancer]

1 hour ago, joeyt said:

I think my point is that a lot of fans go a bit too far with their Football Manager specs on and an exciting (usually foreign) young player doesn't mean they're better for us than already more established players just because they sound sexier on paper

 

Originally I was querying why Hayden Hackney (24 next month and never played in the top division) would be seen as a good signing yet 25 year old Curtis Jones (England international, CL experience, twice PL winner) is written off as not a good signing

 

 

 

You are making a fair point but I think Jones is just bang average. He’s the type of signing we should be moving away from. He’d cost at least £30m (for the reasons you list) and he’d be on a pretty penny - I’d be shocked if it would be under six figures a week. 

There’s so much talent in the Championship and we should be tapping into it.  Hayden Hackney might never amount to anything in his career, but I’d much rather take a low-risk punt on him than someone like Jones. I don’t think he’s shite or that, just a bit meh. He’s the type of player West Ham or someone would sign. 
 

Above all I’d rather we signed an even cheaper midfielder from abroad with a much higher ceiling than both and hope that’s the sort of thing we’re looking to do, especially on the back of last summer.