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Transfers The Summer Transfer Edging Thread 2025

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sudoku said:
Group dates 21/12/25 to 31/12/25.
Final is 18/1/26.

  • GROUP A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
  • GROUP B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
  • GROUP C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
  • GROUP D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
  • GROUP E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
  • GROUP F: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique
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I seem to recall countries calling up players to start training for 2 weeks before AFCON starts - if correct, that might mean players leaving for it around 7 December and its about 6 weeks out in the middle of season.

With 24 teams in 6 groups probably :

Group games (3 per group)
Possibly a round of 16
Quarter Finals for last 8
Semi Finals
Finals

So easy to see how this means that with say a 5/6 day gap between games the games themselves take up a month, let alone pre-tournament training.

Our Afcon players currently are Bissouma and Sarr, both midfield players.
 
I think we have a free run at Eze if we go for him. The 68m release clause is big and around 55m needs to be paid upfront so it'll probably limit us going after other expensive targets. But I don't see anyone else triggering it this Summer and Eze will come if we trigger it.

Its there if we want it. I'm just not sure how much we want it. Semenyo won't be much cheaper but the payment terms will be far more favourable allowing us to spend big again this window if we wanted to. Guess it depends on how much we want to spend in CDM. Wharton/Baleba types would rule out the likes of Eze.
 
Spursidol said:
I seem to recall countries calling up players to start training for 2 weeks before AFCON starts - if correct, that might mean players leaving for it around 7 December and its about 6 weeks out in the middle of season.

With 24 teams in 6 groups probably :

Group games (3 per group)
Possibly a round of 16
Quarter Finals for last 8
Semi Finals
Finals

So easy to see how this means that with say a 5/6 day gap between games the games themselves take up a month, let alone pre-tournament training.

Our Afcon players currently are Bissouma and Sarr, both midfield players.
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Bissouma will be gone so just Sarr. Linked with a few African players (Semenyo, Mbeumo, Kudus) so could end up with another.
 
Spursidol said:
I seem to recall countries calling up players to start training for 2 weeks before AFCON starts - if correct, that might mean players leaving for it around 7 December and its about 6 weeks out in the middle of season.

With 24 teams in 6 groups probably :

Group games (3 per group)
Possibly a round of 16
Quarter Finals for last 8
Semi Finals
Finals

So easy to see how this means that with say a 5/6 day gap between games the games themselves take up a month, let alone pre-tournament training.

Our Afcon players currently are Bissouma and Sarr, both midfield players.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So these are games when we might be losing players to Afcon :

9-10/12/25 Champions League matchday six
13/12/25 Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham 3pm
15/12/25 Carabao Cup fifth round
20/12/25 Tottenham vs Liverpool 3pm
27/12/25 Crystal Palace vs Tottenham 3pm
30/12/25 Brentford vs Tottenham 8pm
03/01/26 Tottenham vs Sunderland 3pm
07/01/26 Bournemouth vs Tottenham 8pm
10/01/26 FA Cup third round
12/01/26 Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
17/01/26 Tottenham vs West Ham 3pm
20-21/01/26 Champions League matchday seven (first games after afcon finals)

So we might be losing the Afcon players for a DOZEN games !
 
dudu said:
No, no, I'm not. You were not comparing them to US - you said they were paid what the TOP players were getting. Not spurs - but the top. My point was that they didn't spend what the top teams were on wages, and still arent BUYING players - bar one on wages that the top teams are.

Allison and Salah were categorically not signed in line with the very top wages at the time.

VVD was. That is one player - They did not win the league by constantly matching the top teams for wages or even fees.

People have constantly been talking about transfer fees being a red herring, and WAGES being the marker for people to be successful - I can find you countless posts saying this.

Liverpool have shown that is not true - Woolwich have shown that is not true, United have shown that is not true, Chelsea have shown that is not true.

What is true is that it is multifaceted and requires a number of things to happen. Well-paid players are one, sure, but so is a squad built together as a squad with a coach that fits the squad they have - you need your best players to stay injury free too and also, have your closest footballing rivals slip up.
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View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Er693MQcz6k&pp=0gcJCf0Ao7VqN5tD
 
sudoku said:
Group dates 21/12/25 to 31/12/25.
Final is 18/1/26.

  • GROUP A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
  • GROUP B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
  • GROUP C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
  • GROUP D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
  • GROUP E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
  • GROUP F: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

And we all know December is a busy schedule too
 
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Spursidol said:
So these are games when we might be losing players to Afcon :

9-10/12/25 Champions League matchday six
13/12/25 Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham 3pm
15/12/25 Carabao Cup fifth round
20/12/25 Tottenham vs Liverpool 3pm
27/12/25 Crystal Palace vs Tottenham 3pm
30/12/25 Brentford vs Tottenham 8pm
03/01/26 Tottenham vs Sunderland 3pm
07/01/26 Bournemouth vs Tottenham 8pm
10/01/26 FA Cup third round
12/01/26 Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
17/01/26 Tottenham vs West Ham 3pm
20-21/01/26 Champions League matchday seven (first games after afcon finals)

So we might be losing the Afcon players for a DOZEN games !
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FFS.
 
Airfixx said:
Our bad trf business during the Levy/Poch/Hitchins era hurt us WAY WAY more than the summer without any signings
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I remember you spending 20 hours a day on here during that Summer window only for us to sign nobody.

And I remember when the window shut you boldly predicting we'd be the BIGGEST spenders in the following January ......
....The following January arrives. And we signed nobody AGAIN 😆

That was so funny, man
 
dudu said:
No, no, I'm not. You were not comparing them to US - you said they were paid what the TOP players were getting. Not spurs - but the top. My point was that they didn't spend what the top teams were on wages, and still arent BUYING players - bar one on wages that the top teams are.

Allison and Salah were categorically not signed in line with the very top wages at the time.

VVD was. That is one player - They did not win the league by constantly matching the top teams for wages or even fees.

People have constantly been talking about transfer fees being a red herring, and WAGES being the marker for people to be successful - I can find you countless posts saying this.

Liverpool have shown that is not true - Woolwich have shown that is not true, United have shown that is not true, Chelsea have shown that is not true.

What is true is that it is multifaceted and requires a number of things to happen. Well-paid players are one, sure, but so is a squad built together as a squad with a coach that fits the squad they have - you need your best players to stay injury free too and also, have your closest footballing rivals slip up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It’s obviously about comparing them to us in terms of transfer ambition. Just look at the way they acted to overtake us.

The willingness to spend top of the range amounts on total transfer cost for players like Van Dijk, Mane, Alisson and now Wirtz IS the difference. Maybe you can make the case that Salah would have been achievable for our model but the wage increases since and the top shelf players they’ve signed to build a winning team around him is sth Levy has NEVER done
 
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