Winter-January 2026 Transfer Window Rumours ...

NabySarr

fenaddick said:

Important to remember that Chapple and Jones didn’t really have time to build an infrastructure together for the last window. This summer’s window will be much more instructive in my opinion

Think expectations are always too high on recruitment. I’d say the average “hit” rate across the EFL is probably 50% in the summer window, and less than that in January. Recruitment is probably the most important thing but it’s also so difficult 

NabySarr

LargeAddick said:

Apter in particular has been unlucky. If it wasn’t for the fact we haven’t had a LWB since Josh’s injury then Apter would have had a lot more game time. There is definitely a good player in there. We have him on a four year deal and he will prove his worth well before that. 

Agree with this but I also think our fanbase is massively overrating Apter. Classic case of a player becoming better in people’s minds because he’s not playing. 

I like him but I really don’t think he’s good enough to transform us like most seem to think he is. He was alright against Oxford but in his 2 starts before that he was awful. I think he’s similar to a lot of our players, great in league 1, capable of good moments in the championship but not consistent enough yet to be a key player 

YannTheMann

Braziliance said:

BenHaimandBikey said:

Braziliance said:

Starting to genuinely wonder how much influence Jones had on some of these signings other than the obvious Luton ones. 

The man had the club bent over a barrel this summer and he got a very long contract.

I'd be shocked if he didn't get more control over transfers than previously. 

If this is the case then, we need some serious improvement on scouting and Jones needs some help with identifying players. 

As 7 million sitting on the bench most days is not a good look. 

Still think Knibbs and Apter would be two of our best players if they started more/got more of a chance. Shame we won't find out re- Knibbsy. 

That's why we bought in Phil Chapple

LargeAddick

NabySarr said:

LargeAddick said:

Apter in particular has been unlucky. If it wasn’t for the fact we haven’t had a LWB since Josh’s injury then Apter would have had a lot more game time. There is definitely a good player in there. We have him on a four year deal and he will prove his worth well before that. 

Agree with this but I also think our fanbase is massively overrating Apter. Classic case of a player becoming better in people’s minds because he’s not playing. 

I like him but I really don’t think he’s good enough to transform us like most seem to think he is. He was alright against Oxford but in his 2 starts before that he was awful. I think he’s similar to a lot of our players, great in league 1, capable of good moments in the championship but not consistent enough yet to be a key player 

Well he started away at Bristol City in our first away game of the season and he was excellent. Defended well, created chances, had the away end constantly singing his name. He’s not had enough game time recently as a consequence of Josh being out injured. It’s certainly far, far too early to write him off and I think he’ll come good once he gets a run of games under his belt.

NabySarr

LargeAddick said:

NabySarr said:

LargeAddick said:

Apter in particular has been unlucky. If it wasn’t for the fact we haven’t had a LWB since Josh’s injury then Apter would have had a lot more game time. There is definitely a good player in there. We have him on a four year deal and he will prove his worth well before that. 

Agree with this but I also think our fanbase is massively overrating Apter. Classic case of a player becoming better in people’s minds because he’s not playing. 

I like him but I really don’t think he’s good enough to transform us like most seem to think he is. He was alright against Oxford but in his 2 starts before that he was awful. I think he’s similar to a lot of our players, great in league 1, capable of good moments in the championship but not consistent enough yet to be a key player 

Well he started away at Bristol City in our first away game of the season and he was excellent. Defended well, created chances, had the away end constantly singing his name. He’s not had enough game time recently as a consequence of Josh being out injured. It’s certainly far, far too early to write him off and I think he’ll come good once he gets a run of games under his belt.

I’m far from writing him off. Just think some fans overrate him. I think he will be a great signing for us, but also don’t think he’s probably good enough yet to make a huge difference in the way some fans are suggesting we should change our whole way of playing to suit him 

ShootersHillGuru

MickeyBennett said:

Next big money signing needs to be an athletic  (ie not Doherty) number 8 with championship standard ball control/passing (ie not Karoy Anderson.)

Will prob cost us 3-5 mill to get standard we need, but is something the team is crying out for whatever formation we play.

Should be priority number 1 in summer window.

Well we’ll need to still be in The Championship for that to happen.

Garrymanilow

People are weird about the transfers. We had a limited budget and spent it on as many players as possible, pretty much all of whom we hoped could step up from L1. Even with that our squad isn't really big enough as we've seen with the issues at LWB. We live in a world where Wrexham are bidding £19m for a striker who has scored 4 senior goals and people are complaining that we didn't spend our money right. In Apter, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman and Olaofe we signed players we hoped to develop into Championship players. The alternative was spending big on one or two players and not having a big enough squad or having to plug gaps with rubbish free transfers. It's odd that we can complain in one breath about not spending enough and then also complain that there's too much money on the bench. We're limited in what we can bring in and we spent millions on signings from mostly L1 clubs because it's impossible to get that same value from Championship clubs for their players. These players are on long terms contracts with long term development plans, we just need to stay up with them this season and build again on top of it in the summer. The transfer market is absolutely insane, less time needs to be spent worrying about what players cost because nothing makes sense anymore

Uboat

gringo said:

Addicksi said:

Mbick, Gough and Fullah should be our future. If the £ signs get the better of our billionaire owners I wonder how much longer any of them will last. 

yeah let's bin them out! what have they done for us, theres dozens of billionaires queuing to piss their money up against our disgusting lavatory walls and floors.

Either you’ve misunderstood the post or that’s an absurd over reaction. 

LargeAddick

Garrymanilow said:

People are weird about the transfers. We had a limited budget and spent it on as many players as possible, pretty much all of whom we hoped could step up from L1. Even with that our squad isn't really big enough as we've seen with the issues at LWB. We live in a world where Wrexham are bidding £19m for a striker who has scored 4 senior goals and people are complaining that we didn't spend our money right. In Apter, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman and Olaofe we signed players we hoped to develop into Championship players. The alternative was spending big on one or two players and not having a big enough squad or having to plug gaps with rubbish free transfers. It's odd that we can complain in one breath about not spending enough and then also complain that there's too much money on the bench. We're limited in what we can bring in and we spent millions on signings from mostly L1 clubs because it's impossible to get that same value from Championship clubs for their players. These players are on long terms contracts with long term development plans, we just need to stay up with them this season and build again on top of it in the summer. The transfer market is absolutely insane, less time needs to be spent worrying about what players cost because nothing makes sense anymore

👏👏👏

sillav nitram

53 new posts and as expected no rumours.

I know most of you hourly posters are addicted to this thread but there is a self help group out there called Transfer Rumours Anonymous. Some of you need to check it out before your lives and others lives are ruined. Think about your families and loved ones. Don’t live in denial get help now before it’s too late.

I speak from bitter experience.

stjohnshill

Braziliance said:

Starting to genuinely wonder how much influence Jones had on some of these signings other than the obvious Luton ones. 

Apter 2.5 million - pure winger, was never capable of playing in defence, doesn't suit our formation, completely frozen out

Knibbs 2 million - Never really got a chance, Luke Berry getting chances ahead of him 

Tanto 1.5 million - similar to Knibbs, never really got a chance despite having a better goals to minute ratio than his competition 

Costello 750k? - barely gets a look in

Very odd that we spent almost 7 million on 4 players, 2 of which you expected to start almost every game before the season started, and now 2 of the 4 at least are completely frozen out.

Jones and Chapple have total control on transfers. The summer strategy was clear. Sign proven championship defenders who Jones knows and trusts and a championship level GK.

In attack, sign players Jones believes he can develop from top L1 players to top championship players who will sell for a good profit.

When we are spending millions on players for the first time is years, fans expect them to play every week and hit the ground running. Reality is Kelman, Knibbs, Apter, Tanto and Carey (even though he was free) have never played at this level and it will take time for them to adjust, that is if they make the step up consistently.

Jones in my opinion has taken too 1 or 2 many risks with his attacking signing, although the approach is understandable, I would personally rather wait until we are a bit more of an established side before every attack minded player we spend millions on is a gamble. 

Scoham

Garrymanilow said:

People are weird about the transfers. We had a limited budget and spent it on as many players as possible, pretty much all of whom we hoped could step up from L1. Even with that our squad isn't really big enough as we've seen with the issues at LWB. We live in a world where Wrexham are bidding £19m for a striker who has scored 4 senior goals and people are complaining that we didn't spend our money right. In Apter, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman and Olaofe we signed players we hoped to develop into Championship players. The alternative was spending big on one or two players and not having a big enough squad or having to plug gaps with rubbish free transfers. It's odd that we can complain in one breath about not spending enough and then also complain that there's too much money on the bench. We're limited in what we can bring in and we spent millions on signings from mostly L1 clubs because it's impossible to get that same value from Championship clubs for their players. These players are on long terms contracts with long term development plans, we just need to stay up with them this season and build again on top of it in the summer. The transfer market is absolutely insane, less time needs to be spent worrying about what players cost because nothing makes sense anymore

Glad you said it, I've never got the point around too much money being spent on subs.

I see it as a positive that shows how we've progressed - the board are allowing the manager to spend millions on regular starters and squad players.

If we stay up, I'd expect to see us spend even more in the summer, though it might be partly funded by a sale or two.

CaptainRobbo

Scoham said:

Garrymanilow said:

People are weird about the transfers. We had a limited budget and spent it on as many players as possible, pretty much all of whom we hoped could step up from L1. Even with that our squad isn't really big enough as we've seen with the issues at LWB. We live in a world where Wrexham are bidding £19m for a striker who has scored 4 senior goals and people are complaining that we didn't spend our money right. In Apter, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman and Olaofe we signed players we hoped to develop into Championship players. The alternative was spending big on one or two players and not having a big enough squad or having to plug gaps with rubbish free transfers. It's odd that we can complain in one breath about not spending enough and then also complain that there's too much money on the bench. We're limited in what we can bring in and we spent millions on signings from mostly L1 clubs because it's impossible to get that same value from Championship clubs for their players. These players are on long terms contracts with long term development plans, we just need to stay up with them this season and build again on top of it in the summer. The transfer market is absolutely insane, less time needs to be spent worrying about what players cost because nothing makes sense anymore

Glad you said it, I've never got the point around too much money being spent on subs.

I see it as a positive that shows how we've progressed - the board are allowing the manager to spend millions on regular starters and squad players.

If we stay up, I'd expect to see us spend even more in the summer, though it might be partly funded by a sale or two.

Will be sad to see Ahadme sold, but the 2 or 3 Million it generates will help us build for next season.

Rothko

Tell you what me chuckle, someone on this thread about us having £7m worth of players on the bench against Derby like it was a big deal. 

Cost up Southampton bench against Sheffield United, at around £60m, and you realise we’re competing in a different ocean. 

CaptainRobbo

Rothko said:

Tell you what me chuckle, someone on this thread about us having £7m worth of players on the bench against Derby like it was a big deal. 

Cost up Southampton bench against Sheffield United, at around £60m, and you realise we’re competing in a different ocean. 

Sort of put things in perspective. 👏

MarcusH26

Rothko said:

Tell you what me chuckle, someone on this thread about us having £7m worth of players on the bench against Derby like it was a big deal. 

Cost up Southampton bench against Sheffield United, at around £60m, and you realise we’re competing in a different ocean. 

Absolutely we're in a completely different ocean to most of the league. The fees spent further up the league are absolutely staggering. 

LargeAddick

stjohnshill said:

Braziliance said:

Starting to genuinely wonder how much influence Jones had on some of these signings other than the obvious Luton ones. 

Apter 2.5 million - pure winger, was never capable of playing in defence, doesn't suit our formation, completely frozen out

Knibbs 2 million - Never really got a chance, Luke Berry getting chances ahead of him 

Tanto 1.5 million - similar to Knibbs, never really got a chance despite having a better goals to minute ratio than his competition 

Costello 750k? - barely gets a look in

Very odd that we spent almost 7 million on 4 players, 2 of which you expected to start almost every game before the season started, and now 2 of the 4 at least are completely frozen out.

Jones and Chapple have total control on transfers. The summer strategy was clear. Sign proven championship defenders who Jones knows and trusts and a championship level GK.

In attack, sign players Jones believes he can develop from top L1 players to top championship players who will sell for a good profit.

When we are spending millions on players for the first time is years, fans expect them to play every week and hit the ground running. Reality is Kelman, Knibbs, Apter, Tanto and Carey (even though he was free) have never played at this level and it will take time for them to adjust, that is if they make the step up consistently.

Jones in my opinion has taken too 1 or 2 many risks with his attacking signing, although the approach is understandable, I would personally rather wait until we are a bit more of an established side before every attack minded player we spend millions on is a gamble. 

Carey had played previously in the Championship, Kelman too, maybe even Apter?

golfaddick

fenaddick said:

Important to remember that Chapple and Jones didn’t really have time to build an infrastructure together for the last window. This summer’s window will be much more instructive in my opinion

Which is said every summer window.....after saying the previous winter one was not the one to be strengthening in.

Round & round we go.

fenaddick

golfaddick said:

fenaddick said:

Important to remember that Chapple and Jones didn’t really have time to build an infrastructure together for the last window. This summer’s window will be much more instructive in my opinion

Which is said every summer window.....after saying the previous winter one was not the one to be strengthening in.

Round & round we go.

That's only the case when you have staff churn. We have a chance for stability now so if things aren't rolling next summer there's a bigger issue

wolfgang

I am hoping for a bit of staff churn, too. Keeps this board buzzing.

stoneroses19

Rothko said:

Tell you what me chuckle, someone on this thread about us having £7m worth of players on the bench against Derby like it was a big deal. 

Cost up Southampton bench against Sheffield United, at around £60m, and you realise we’re competing in a different ocean. 

Two sides that we are 4 points behind and equal on points too. Yes, they are obviously underperforming, but still, we are being competitive, while also being in a relegation fight. 

CB1

Marc Leonard going on loan to Hearts. Shame that, think he would have been a very good addition to us. 

NabySarr

CB1 said:

Marc Leonard going on loan to Hearts. Shame that, think he would have been a very good addition to us. 

Would have been great but a choice between a  historic title challenge and relegation dogfight was probably an easy one

Chris_from_Sidcup

Braziliance said:

Starting to genuinely wonder how much influence Jones had on some of these signings other than the obvious Luton ones. 

Apter 2.5 million - pure winger, was never capable of playing in defence, doesn't suit our formation, completely frozen out

Knibbs 2 million - Never really got a chance, Luke Berry getting chances ahead of him 

Tanto 1.5 million - similar to Knibbs, never really got a chance despite having a better goals to minute ratio than his competition 

Costello 750k? - barely gets a look in

Very odd that we spent almost 7 million on 4 players, 2 of which you expected to start almost every game before the season started, and now 2 of the 4 at least are completely frozen out.

Agree with most of that but with Knibbs it didn't help that he wasn't really match fit at the start of the season and Carey was in great form so couldn't really be dropped. In recent weeks though it's baffling, Carey hasn't been great (probably needs a rest) so Knibbs should've played more.

Apter we all find strange, i don't think he's ever really let us down when he's played but the formation doesn't help. How he didn't get on to stretch the game v Sheff Utd though i will never know. If he's not going to get on in an attacking role v 9 men then what's he doing here? I'm sure he's telling his agent the same thing.

JRC is the strangest of the lot though. He's got years of Championship experience yet has barely had a kick.

Valley11

Dave Challinor on Olaofe 
(last couple of mins)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mwg2t1

PaddyP17

£9m spent across that number of players is fine if we stay up. If even one of them turns into a beast then we are making that back and then some (let's be real, we're a selling club - or indeed a player could prove the difference between survival and relegation, and that is worth 9m or whatever it is in revenue gap between L1 and Champ).

Think of it a bit like trying to bet for value in horse racing. We think there are nine 16/1 shots we've taken a bit of a punt on (for simplicity I am counting all nine of our summer signings including the older frees like Burke and Bell who are here to do a bit of a job and that we'd acknowledge have limited resale value). If one of them wins, we turn 9m into 16m.

This is obviously an oversimplification, and NOT an actual representation of what the perceived value/spend/sale figure could be, but take things in their totality.

I think this is a risk, but look at our position. We have had to spend in this manner to give ourselves a chance. It is the nature of the beast as a newly promoted club.

follett

I think Apter’s biggest problem was that he just doesn’t fit the system Jones wants to play which is why it’s baffling he was signed. I know he won player of the month but I thought he struggled at the defensive side of being a RWB and was helped massively by having Ramsay to cover him. Thought he really struggled in the Millwall game and it wasn’t a surprise to see Bree come in and replace him from there on in really. Once that happened it was difficult to get him back in the team given the system we play.

TC isnt much better at LWB but we just don’t really have another option there and for me TC does offer more than Apter. 

Completely baffling bit of recruitment though. Hoping it can still come good for him 

Swisdom

For me Apter could play behind the strikers.  He's more than just a winger but certainly not a wing back.  He's decent with both feet so can go both ways, he can pick a pass and is skilful.  I'd like to see him given a shot there at some point.  His shooting is also pretty decent and he tends to work the 'keeper

JRC has had a couple of decen games and a couple of stinkers but Nathan sees him in training daily so we maybe have to trust his judgement.  

Knibbs took a while to get fit and hasn't really got going.  As daft as it sounds, he will be like a new signng next season provided we don't rush him back.  Let him heal properly and have a full pre-season rather than risk rushing him back and him breaking down.  I'd always have him ahead of Berry because 
i just don't get Berry.  At all.  There's a lot of love for him, but I think he's too slow and is always a yard behind the ball.

LargeAddick

I agree, think he'd be ideal behind a front two.

fenaddick

Also think he'd be a good 10 but we'd need a better pair of holding midfielders, Coventry could be one of them but we'd need a massive upgrade on Doc/Anderson/JRC