Transfers Summer 2026 Transfer Thread

[TeamSpirit™]

He can pass. He’s on another level to Garner as a midfielder. Fernandes is good but he’s got a bit of everything too.

Get good players first, secondly, that can handle the ball under pressure. I don’t want players that can just do one thing because footballs a game that you get tested on the other stuff too. I don’t want a Huddlestone, probably one of the best passers in the last 30 years. I’d rather a type, who can handle the ball, make a yard for himself to pass simply but effectively and carry the ball when it’s needed and is mobile. Frank made everyone believe we were shit because we didn’t have this mythical passer that would have made everything great. Absolute load of horseshit.

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2009-11 (pre-injury) Huddlestone was way more mobile than given credit for. Also read the game extremely well. It was why Redknapp could get away with playing him in a midfield pairing, whether it was Modric, jenas or Palacios.


View: https://youtu.be/_sQiZ49Uuo0?t=459&si=6OCf09X6UK2rF-t8

That was his contribution to one of our most important goals this century.

 

[Shadydan]

Who’s a ball carrier starting for us in midfield now? Sarr? Not good enough, Bergvall? Yes potentially but he’s not nailed on for a starting spot at the moment and you need more than one. Gray? no. Bentancur Is more a schemer making angles. Players are going to leave as well.

stats can be misleading. Putting Garner in this team won’t make a us a good team just because his stats say he passes the ball forward at a higher percentage. Last summer it was we’re lacking a dribbler, according to stats Kudus is the best dribbler. That didn’t really make us a better team. Just because Scotts not doing it there as much doesn’t mean he’s not capable either. What we’re lacking is controlling games, not having enough players that can look after the ball under pressure, a way of moving through the pitch,(which doesn’t just have to be a Wharton type),cutting edge up front. Who was the progressive passer under poch? Not that I know off the top of my head but I’d say Dier had a higher percentage of forward balls yet we were a better side with Wanyama and Dembele.

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Sigh...We do this every transfer window man, why do you think we're in this predicament particularly in midfield? We have a load of ball carriers in our midfield who don't posses the pass first ability in which we are severely lacking, Alex Scott is another ball carrier. We has this with Gallagher, people saying he's better than Bissouma and Sarr, so what? He's yet another player who doesn't give us anything we don't already have, just a better version but it doesn't address the primary problem in our team.

You said yourself we're lacking control in our games, what makes you think yet another non ball progressor is suddenly going to give us control? Stats may be misleading but when it's backed up by the eye test numerous times it's more than obvious what our problem is and no De Zerbi magic isn't suddenly going to make our players in ball progressors on a consistent basis.

Weird point about Kudus but you have an agenda against him anyway so there's no point addressing that.

Why is this fanbase addicted to ball carriers, it's utterly mental.

 

[Spursidol]

IMO, Bissouma (contract requires renewal and very inconsistent) and Sarr (powerful run and shot but average (at best) at most other things will leave this window leaving us with :

Bentancur - Contract renewed, he's still possibly our best CM.
Palhinha - DM, all rumours are we will buy at circa 30m.
Gallagher - Strong presser, but limited footballer and hence not my favourite player.
Gray & Bergvall - Both still aged 20, but should now be first team regulars 26/27

Maddison - We hope to see him back at old level before 26/27
Kulusevski - Will he be back to play for Sweden in mid June ? I fear his fitness will be unclear even at start of season
Simons - Currently not expected back until Feb/March 2027.

So its likely a lot of uncertainties about player fitness even at start of 2026/27

We probably need to buy a good/top midfielder that can pass and control the game.

We also need to have a versatile midfielder who can play in positions where we have gaps. Welcome Mr Alfie Devine - can play CM, AM, deep lying playmaker and for E youth where there were a number of good CM's he filled in as both LM/LW and RM/RW (neither his best position) yet was a contender for MOTM when playing both positions.

He's tenacious, good long passing, good shot, can create and score (say 15 goal involvements a season), finds space in final third, strong dribbler, strong tackler, happy to receive ball when under pressure, especially between opposition defensive and midfield areas, good at set pieces, will count as u21 in 26/27 and Club Trained the season after. Has a season in top Belgium league (rated as technically higher than Championship) as well as a season and half in Championship, so decent experience. We already own him, so no further fees.

If Kulusevski is not fit to start season, and/or Maddison not good to play all games, Devine is ideal cover as a 10, can play as a 6/8 controlling the game and likewise can be a candidate on the wings. The 'Swiss pocket knife' player !

 

[dustybin]

Sigh...We do this every transfer window man, why do you think we're in this predicament particularly in midfield? We have a load of ball carriers in our midfield who don't posses the pass first ability in which we are severely lacking, Alex Scott is another ball carrier. We has this with Gallagher, people saying he's better than Bissouma and Sarr, so what? He's yet another player who doesn't give us anything we don't already have, just a better version but it doesn't address the primary problem in our team.

You said yourself we're lacking control in our games, what makes you think yet another non ball progressor is suddenly going to give us control? Stats may be misleading but when it's backed up by the eye test numerous times it's more than obvious what our problem is and no De Zerbi magic isn't suddenly going to make our players in ball progressors on a consistent basis.

Weird point about Kudus but you have an agenda against him anyway so there's no point addressing that.

Why is this fanbase addicted to ball carriers, it's utterly mental.

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Sigh indeed. Controlling games doesn’t mean passing the ball forward at a higher percentage. Far more about ball manipulation, ball retention under pressure, technical ability, movement. Ball progression is a by product of that. Scott is great at those things.

We’re in this predicament because of a lot of reasons, injuries, poor managers, players that aren’t technically good enough under pressure, lack of top wide forward options. Not enough goals in the team.

Gallagher isn’t a ball carrier. He’s a pressing 10 if anything. Better without the ball, who can maybe pop up with some goals. Who’s all these ball carriers that are good enough to start for us in the long run. I’ll give you Bergvall potentially.

According to alot of people last summer, maybe you as well? the primary problem was not having a dribbler. Everyone looked at the stats and convinced themselves Kudus was the solution to the problems He wasn’t and isn’t. I guess this summer it’s going to be a progressive passer that’s going to be the silver bullet. It’s not.

 

[Shadydan]

Sigh indeed. Controlling games doesn’t mean passing the ball forward at a higher percentage. Far more about ball manipulation, ball retention under pressure, technical ability, movement. Ball progression is a by product of that. Scott is great at those things.

We’re in this predicament because of a lot of reasons, injuries, poor managers, players that aren’t technically good enough under pressure, lack of top wide forward options. Not enough goals in the team.

Gallagher isn’t a ball carrier. He’s a pressing 10 if anything. Better without the ball, who can maybe pop up with some goals. Who’s all these ball carriers that are good enough to start for us in the long run. I’ll give you Bergvall potentially.

According to alot of people last summer, maybe you as well? the primary problem was not having a dribbler. Everyone looked at the stats and convinced themselves Kudus was the solution to the problems He wasn’t and isn’t. I guess this summer it’s going to be a progressive passer that’s going to be the silver bullet. It’s not.

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Nobody said controlling games is ONLY about progressive passing but when a team consistently struggles to move the ball through phases, sustain pressure and create quality chances then yeah lacking players who can reliably progress the ball becomes a massive problem. We've had this problem for YEARS, not just last season...it's just only came to ahead because of how Frank set the team up however even under Ange we had ball progression issues and it will be the same under De Zerbi if we don't have a natural there who's first thought is to play the ball forward.

There’s a difference between being safe in possession and actually advancing the team consistently. We’ve had loads of players who can recycle the ball, very few who can genuinely break lines regularly through passing, the fact that you mentioned Dier in your previous post tells me you don't really understand what we need. Just because Dier passed the ball forward that doesn't mean he's a ball progressor, it's the players that are able to break the lines and find our attacker in spaces consistently which pushes our opponents on the back foot are the players we lack. When our midfielders get the ball they rarely pass between lines and take risks.

I'll address your point about Kudus because you really have this weird agenda against him. We were perfectly fine to want a dribbler because we absolutely needed it but you're pretending a dribbler alone was meant to fix the entire structural issues of the team however that doesn’t mean the underlying weaknesses suddenly stop existing...we still lack ball progression massively and we still lack players who can receive under pressure and move the game forward consistently just like we still lack goals and dribblers...Multiple things can be true at once and signing Kudus went a long to reducing our weakness in that area.

Nobody sensible thinks a progressive passer is a "silver bullet" either...It’s just one of several missing profiles in an unbalanced squad and IMO it's the main profile that seriously needs upgrading.

 

[Teach]

We are not signing Greenwood no club in England would touch him. Club have enough bad press and bad blood with the fans as is

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And your point is?

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Don’t really have one. Some talented players are lazy, would you want Berbatov or not because he can’t ’high press’ in a Thomas Frank system? I think Greenwood is both lazy, and a dickhead which is a no from me

 

[Teach]

Sigh...We do this every transfer window man, why do you think we're in this predicament particularly in midfield? We have a load of ball carriers in our midfield who don't posses the pass first ability in which we are severely lacking, Alex Scott is another ball carrier. We has this with Gallagher, people saying he's better than Bissouma and Sarr, so what? He's yet another player who doesn't give us anything we don't already have, just a better version but it doesn't address the primary problem in our team.

You said yourself we're lacking control in our games, what makes you think yet another non ball progressor is suddenly going to give us control? Stats may be misleading but when it's backed up by the eye test numerous times it's more than obvious what our problem is and no De Zerbi magic isn't suddenly going to make our players in ball progressors on a consistent basis.

Weird point about Kudus but you have an agenda against him anyway so there's no point addressing that.

Why is this fanbase addicted to ball carriers, it's utterly mental.

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Scott has great feet and can play the ball around quickly, he’s not solely a ball carrier. If he was Spanish, he would probably be a 6

 

[Brian Fantana]

22 goals in 36 matches puts him second in the top scorers position. I’d say that was extremely good.

Judging by the paucity of decent strikers in the market, who should we go for that we can get?

If we use the argument that Solanke and Richarlison were good before we signed them, are we looking for a striker who isn’t very good instead? Not sure I get your point here.

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I actually think part of our problems is that we have zero goals from wide now as well. It might be easier to pick up somebody to score goals out there than at centre forward. But only if we want to spend the money of course. Our wide options are as big as a problem as a striker. None of them contribute any goals.

 

[Shadydan]

Scott has great feet and can play the ball around quickly, he’s not solely a ball carrier. If he was Spanish, he would probably be a 6

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Give me Hayden Hackney any day over Scott.

 

[Teach]

IMO, Bissouma (contract requires renewal and very inconsistent) and Sarr (powerful run and shot but average (at best) at most other things will leave this window leaving us with :

Bentancur - Contract renewed, he's still possibly our best CM.
Palhinha - DM, all rumours are we will buy at circa 30m.
Gallagher - Strong presser, but limited footballer and hence not my favourite player.
Gray & Bergvall - Both still aged 20, but should now be first team regulars 26/27

Maddison - We hope to see him back at old level before 26/27
Kulusevski - Will he be back to play for Sweden in mid June ? I fear his fitness will be unclear even at start of season
Simons - Currently not expected back until Feb/March 2027.

So its likely a lot of uncertainties about player fitness even at start of 2026/27

We probably need to buy a good/top midfielder that can pass and control the game.

We also need to have a versatile midfielder who can play in positions where we have gaps. Welcome Mr Alfie Devine - can play CM, AM, deep lying playmaker and for E youth where there were a number of good CM's he filled in as both LM/LW and RM/RW (neither his best position) yet was a contender for MOTM when playing both positions.

He's tenacious, good long passing, good shot, can create and score (say 15 goal involvements a season), finds space in final third, strong dribbler, strong tackler, happy to receive ball when under pressure, especially between opposition defensive and midfield areas, good at set pieces, will count as u21 in 26/27 and Club Trained the season after. Has a season in top Belgium league (rated as technically higher than Championship) as well as a season and half in Championship, so decent experience. We already own him, so no further fees.

If Kulusevski is not fit to start season, and/or Maddison not good to play all games, Devine is ideal cover as a 10, can play as a 6/8 controlling the game and likewise can be a candidate on the wings. The 'Swiss pocket knife' player !

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Yes!!! One of those players that has really good basic technical fundamentals that mean he can play with better players, and raise his own game. Would prefer to see him in the squad than Gray and Berg next season. They should be loaned and play40 games and find a role. IMO

 

[Brian Fantana]

IMO, Bissouma (contract requires renewal and very inconsistent) and Sarr (powerful run and shot but average (at best) at most other things will leave this window leaving us with :

Bentancur - Contract renewed, he's still possibly our best CM.
Palhinha - DM, all rumours are we will buy at circa 30m.
Gallagher - Strong presser, but limited footballer and hence not my favourite player.
Gray & Bergvall - Both still aged 20, but should now be first team regulars 26/27

Maddison - We hope to see him back at old level before 26/27
Kulusevski - Will he be back to play for Sweden in mid June ? I fear his fitness will be unclear even at start of season
Simons - Currently not expected back until Feb/March 2027.

So its likely a lot of uncertainties about player fitness even at start of 2026/27

We probably need to buy a good/top midfielder that can pass and control the game.

We also need to have a versatile midfielder who can play in positions where we have gaps. Welcome Mr Alfie Devine - can play CM, AM, deep lying playmaker and for E youth where there were a number of good CM's he filled in as both LM/LW and RM/RW (neither his best position) yet was a contender for MOTM when playing both positions.

He's tenacious, good long passing, good shot, can create and score (say 15 goal involvements a season), finds space in final third, strong dribbler, strong tackler, happy to receive ball when under pressure, especially between opposition defensive and midfield areas, good at set pieces, will count as u21 in 26/27 and Club Trained the season after. Has a season in top Belgium league (rated as technically higher than Championship) as well as a season and half in Championship, so decent experience. We already own him, so no further fees.

If Kulusevski is not fit to start season, and/or Maddison not good to play all games, Devine is ideal cover as a 10, can play as a 6/8 controlling the game and likewise can be a candidate on the wings. The 'Swiss pocket knife' player !

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We know this, but I just want to make the point that those midfield options are fucking atrocious. No wonder we are in the shit. We will continue to be until they sort that out with some quality in there

 

[Spursidol]

Agreed the options are not great but we are not going to change everything everywhere in one window - especially with the weak options we have in forward line too.

I'd like to move Gallagher on, but with uncertainties over Maddison, Kulusevski and Simons, I think we have no option other than to keep him next season.

But we do need someone who can pass and control - and we need to buy

Devine is a good technical player who I think will look better playing with better players, and is versatile enough to cover many midfield positions. Whilst I like both Gray and Bergvall, IMO Devine will be more useful to us next season due to his versatility, Gray and Bergvall I think will be better options for us from 2027/28.

 

[VonnegutBusy]

IMO, Bissouma (contract requires renewal and very inconsistent) and Sarr (powerful run and shot but average (at best) at most other things will leave this window leaving us with :

Bentancur - Contract renewed, he's still possibly our best CM.
Palhinha - DM, all rumours are we will buy at circa 30m.
Gallagher - Strong presser, but limited footballer and hence not my favourite player.
Gray & Bergvall - Both still aged 20, but should now be first team regulars 26/27

Maddison - We hope to see him back at old level before 26/27
Kulusevski - Will he be back to play for Sweden in mid June ? I fear his fitness will be unclear even at start of season
Simons - Currently not expected back until Feb/March 2027.

So its likely a lot of uncertainties about player fitness even at start of 2026/27

We probably need to buy a good/top midfielder that can pass and control the game.

We also need to have a versatile midfielder who can play in positions where we have gaps. Welcome Mr Alfie Devine - can play CM, AM, deep lying playmaker and for E youth where there were a number of good CM's he filled in as both LM/LW and RM/RW (neither his best position) yet was a contender for MOTM when playing both positions.

He's tenacious, good long passing, good shot, can create and score (say 15 goal involvements a season), finds space in final third, strong dribbler, strong tackler, happy to receive ball when under pressure, especially between opposition defensive and midfield areas, good at set pieces, will count as u21 in 26/27 and Club Trained the season after. Has a season in top Belgium league (rated as technically higher than Championship) as well as a season and half in Championship, so decent experience. We already own him, so no further fees.

If Kulusevski is not fit to start season, and/or Maddison not good to play all games, Devine is ideal cover as a 10, can play as a 6/8 controlling the game and likewise can be a candidate on the wings. The 'Swiss pocket knife' player !

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Nothing to suggest Devine is PL ready.

You don't scrape PL survival and then entrust your fortunes in Alfie Devine the following season. Not if you are run by sane people.

We really should be buying a new starting 10 and not be relying on Maddison and Kulu (who btw is shit as a 10) to be back to 100%. Can forget about Xavi too.

 

[Kosher Kid]

Nothing to suggest Devine is PL ready.

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Disagree.

His goals and assists in the Championship this season, for a mid table team, are comparable to what Jack Grealish was doing for Villa at a similar age in the Championship.

I'd give him a go to be honest.

Got to be better than Biss.

 

[dustybin]

Nobody said controlling games is ONLY about progressive passing but when a team consistently struggles to move the ball through phases, sustain pressure and create quality chances then yeah lacking players who can reliably progress the ball becomes a massive problem. We've had this problem for YEARS, not just last season...it's just only came to ahead because of how Frank set the team up however even under Ange we had ball progression issues and it will be the same under De Zerbi if we don't have a natural there who's first thought is to play the ball forward.

There’s a difference between being safe in possession and actually advancing the team consistently. We’ve had loads of players who can recycle the ball, very few who can genuinely break lines regularly through passing, the fact that you mentioned Dier in your previous post tells me you don't really understand what we need. Just because Dier passed the ball forward that doesn't mean he's a ball progressor, it's the players that are able to break the lines and find our attacker in spaces consistently which pushes our opponents on the back foot are the players we lack. When our midfielders get the ball they rarely pass between lines and take risks.

I'll address your point about Kudus because you really have this weird agenda against him. We were perfectly fine to want a dribbler because we absolutely needed it but you're pretending a dribbler alone was meant to fix the entire structural issues of the team however that doesn’t mean the underlying weaknesses suddenly stop existing...we still lack ball progression massively and we still lack players who can receive under pressure and move the game forward consistently just like we still lack goals and dribblers...Multiple things can be true at once and signing Kudus went a long to reducing our weakness in that area.

Nobody sensible thinks a progressive passer is a "silver bullet" either...It’s just one of several missing profiles in an unbalanced squad and IMO it's the main profile that seriously needs upgrading.

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As I said, we’ve struggled to move through the phases of the pitch because we don’t have enough players like Scott who are hard to press, good technically and can make space for themselves and pass and move up the pitch. He doesn’t just recycle the ball and he’s not just a ball carrier. He’s a very good all round midfielder, that gets you up the pitch.

You’re more likely to sustain attacks moving up the pitch like that as a team and box a team in, than a midfielder picking it up from a cb and trying to thread it though the lines or into the feet of a forward and you need a base of being press resistant and control to start from otherwise teams will pressure you into making passes you don’t ideally want to make anyway

do you think Garner would be a better buy than Scott honestly?

The reason I mentioned Kudus is because a dribbling winger was seen as the main weakness in the summer. If we went by stats he was the best option but he’s got massive flaws in his game that hinder the team just as much as it helps it. Just throwing progressive passing stats on here as reason to sign or not sign someone is not it.

You know what it all comes down to. Signing technically good, mobile and intelligent footballers

 

[dustybin]

I know he's Spurs but do we actually need Alex Scott and if so why?

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Going back to this as well, we were having the same arguments last summer. Apparently we didnt need Semenyo as we didnt need another left winger because we have loads(cut to the end of the season and we’ve only got a very raw Tel playing there) Kudus is the better fit as we’re lacking a dribbler and according to stats he’s better than Semenyo. Clearly not in reality and where it counts.

So the idea that we’ve got loads of ball carriers, I’m not buying at all. It’s only really Bergvall who could potentially come close to what Scott offers in that regard anyway even if you believe that’s all he does.

Eze was the same. We didn’t need another number 10 apparently and were finishing the season with someone who’s better without the ball in that position.

 

[VonnegutBusy]

Going back to this as well, we were having the same arguments last summer. Apparently we didnt need Semenyo as we didnt need another left winger because we have loads(cut to the end of the season and we’ve only got a very raw Tel playing there) Kudus is the better fit as we’re lacking a dribbler and according to stats he’s better than Semenyo. Clearly not in reality and where it counts.

So the idea that we’ve got loads of ball carriers, I’m not buying at all. It’s only really Bergvall who could potentially come close to what Scott offers in that regard anyway even if you believe that’s all he does.

Eze was the same. We didn’t need another number 10 apparently and were finishing the season with someone who’s better without the ball in that position.

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This fanbase overrates it's deadwood like no other.

Hopefully this season has been a reality check for some.

 

[Airfixx]

We know this, but I just want to make the point that those midfield options are fucking atrocious. No wonder we are in the shit. We will continue to be until they sort that out with some quality in there

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One way or another, there has to be a significant flux in our MFers this summer....... Even at best; they're grossly inconsistent and this pre-dates Frank.

Seeing posts about keeping Benta, Pal and even in some qtrs Biss + the massive uptick in opinon over Gallagher (after just 2 good games!)....... Do too much of that there'll be no room for significant upgrade considering we will have limited game-time to share around next season.


The only two I'm committed to keeping are Gray & Berg.

 

[ElTel]

United are going about their business again. Lost to us in the Europa league final. Spent 200m on Sesko, Mbuemo, Cunha and Lemmens. Finish 3rd.

Put aside 80m for a star midfielder, 40m for a squad midfielder and 20m for an up and coming midfielder.

40m midfielder looks like it could be Ederson or Manuel Fernandes, 80m midfielder could be Tchouameni or Tonali.

Completely left us behind.

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I think their 80 mill midfielder will be Baleba.....they wanted him last summer, Baleba's head was turned and he hasn't been the same player since

 

[Shadydan]

As I said, we’ve struggled to move through the phases of the pitch because we don’t have enough players like Scott who are hard to press, good technically and can make space for themselves and pass and move up the pitch. He doesn’t just recycle the ball and he’s not just a ball carrier. He’s a very good all round midfielder, that gets you up the pitch.

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We have enough players like Scott, Scott is a good player coming off the back of a good season playing in a settled team, no more - he's not a needle mover because we have an abundance of players who fit the same profile as him. If you're advocating for an 'all round midfielder' then there are other players who are just better than him at doing the all round stuff who I've mentioned plus having the ability to pass first - a profile which we severely lack.

You’re more likely to sustain attacks moving up the pitch like that as a team and box a team in, than a midfielder picking it up from a cb and trying to thread it though the lines or into the feet of a forward and you need a base of being press resistant and control to start from otherwise teams will pressure you into making passes you don’t ideally want to make anyway

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You have a completely rigid way of thinking about football, neither of these players I've mentioned sit in a set position, you think all they're going to do is pick up the ball from the CB's and thread it between the lines and not move around the pitch? Watch how Fernandes plays, he pops up in different positions but he is more likely to take risks on the ball in terms of his passing, something that Scott doesn't do consistently enough.

do you think Garner would be a better buy than Scott honestly?

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100% yes - he does all the 'all round' stuff you want plus he's better at getting his team up the pitch with his passing.

The reason I mentioned Kudus is because a dribbling winger was seen as the main weakness in the summer. If we went by stats he was the best option but he’s got massive flaws in his game that hinder the team just as much as it helps it. Just throwing progressive passing stats on here as reason to sign or not sign someone is not it.

You know what it all comes down to. Signing technically good, mobile and intelligent footballers

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Firstly Kudus wasn't the main weakness at all, he was one of the weaknesses in our squad which needed addressing and it did.

Secondly judging him in a Frank managed team where there was clearly no coaching and his instruction was for Porro to spam balls to him when he had 3 men marking him and he was still arguably our best player before he got injured doesn't take away the fact that he is a player and profile which was needed.

If we're going to progress this squad we need to sign more passers in the team, we're going to lose one in Romero in the Summer and we're going to struggle to move the ball up the pitch, this should be our priority.