Summer Window 2026 - Rumours and Discussion

The Red Robin

Braziliance said:

Gillesphey has Wycombe written all over him I think. 

Always wondered what his tattoos said. 

Addicksi

De Keersmaker would  be amazing or Ingleson from Shef Wed along with Lowe their left wingback. Ciaron Brown is an excellent suggestion from @Braziliance. Don't know if we could get Donley on loan as he knows how to find Kelmans runs.
Striker I don't know but hopefully a big mobile s'houser who isn't fazed by how bloody hard the Championship is. If it's Dykes I wouldn't mind either. 

NabySarr

Addicksi said:

De Keersmaker would  be amazing or Ingleson from Shef Wed along with Lowe their left wingback. Ciaron Brown is an excellent suggestion from @Braziliance. Don't know if we could get Donley on loan as he knows how to find Kelmans runs.
Striker I don't know but hopefully a big mobile s'houser who isn't fazed by how bloody hard the Championship is. If it's Dykes I wouldn't mind either. 

Oxford had a deal agreed to sign Donley, that won’t happen now they are down so he should be available on a permanent if we wanted him

Scoham

Braziliance said:

Midfielders - 

Luke Berry - Out, no words needed.

Conor Coventry - Sell, saw MK Dons mentioned, good shout. Maybe even Lincoln may show interest, but I don't believe he's worth a new contract, and he still has a year, should look to move on imo

Greg Docherty - Sell. I'll put my hands up and say he's been good the last 8 games or so? But we still failed to win in all bar 1, we need more in the midfield, and he can't be part of this starting line up next season. Wouldn't be too annoyed seeing him on the bench worst case

Knibbs - Keep, unlucky with injuries and a poor pre-season, seems a decent utility option.

JRC - Sell if we can. Just doesn't seem like it will work for him here, seems a decent pro.

Carey - Keep, but, if a offer comes in, I think we should take it. Good goal scorer, but doesn't offer much in midfield, should be an impact sub next season at best. 

Fullah - Loan potentially? Jones doesn't seem to rely on him yet, and I think a full year in League 1 could be massive for him, will have plenty of suitors

Taylor - Release. Good lad, all the best to him, honest pro. 

Karoy Anderson - Loan. Just had a very decent loan spell with Blackpool, I would try and send him back. The worst thing he can do is sit on the bench at this stage. Don't think we have seen his best. 

Don’t disagree with your views on our midfield, but we can’t realistically move on nearly all of them and replace each with better in one summer.

I think we’re better off using a good chunk of the budget on 2/3 very good signings rather than moving so many on that we need 4/5 new CMs.

If we need to sign too many players we risk spreading the budget too thinly and ending up with more signings like Apter, Olaofe etc who aren’t what we need.

Addicksi

I'm not sure about moving A Mitchell on. We sent a bunch out on loan and he and Kanu progressed. Mitchell is only 24 I think, and I like his character. 

Scoham

Addicksi said:

I'm not sure about moving A Mitchell on. We sent a bunch out on loan and he and Kanu progressed. Mitchell is only 24 I think, and I like his character. 

We have better for his position in Ramsay and Sichenje (plus Burke, but he’s rarely fit), as well as Gough coming through.

He also has 1 year left on his contract so it makes sense to either get a fee or offer an extension and bring him into our first team squad. I just don’t see us keeping him when we’ll be aiming to finish higher next season.

NabySarr

Scoham said:

Braziliance said:

Midfielders - 

Luke Berry - Out, no words needed.

Conor Coventry - Sell, saw MK Dons mentioned, good shout. Maybe even Lincoln may show interest, but I don't believe he's worth a new contract, and he still has a year, should look to move on imo

Greg Docherty - Sell. I'll put my hands up and say he's been good the last 8 games or so? But we still failed to win in all bar 1, we need more in the midfield, and he can't be part of this starting line up next season. Wouldn't be too annoyed seeing him on the bench worst case

Knibbs - Keep, unlucky with injuries and a poor pre-season, seems a decent utility option.

JRC - Sell if we can. Just doesn't seem like it will work for him here, seems a decent pro.

Carey - Keep, but, if a offer comes in, I think we should take it. Good goal scorer, but doesn't offer much in midfield, should be an impact sub next season at best. 

Fullah - Loan potentially? Jones doesn't seem to rely on him yet, and I think a full year in League 1 could be massive for him, will have plenty of suitors

Taylor - Release. Good lad, all the best to him, honest pro. 

Karoy Anderson - Loan. Just had a very decent loan spell with Blackpool, I would try and send him back. The worst thing he can do is sit on the bench at this stage. Don't think we have seen his best. 

Don’t disagree with your views on our midfield, but we can’t realistically move on nearly all of them and replace each with better in one summer.

I think we’re better off using a good chunk of the budget on 2/3 very good signings rather than moving so many on that we need 4/5 new CMs.

If we need to sign too many players we risk spreading the budget too thinly and ending up with more signings like Apter, Olaofe etc who aren’t what we need.

I think a lot of these views on who we should keep and replace are what we’d need to do to move up into challenging for the top 8. We don’t need to do that much to move ourselves up into lower mid-table which should be our expectation next season. Just a couple of new midfielders and wing backs should move us up to that level, anything else is a bonus 

daveydanger

Seem to remember the “8-8-8” policy recently being reiterated. Think it was 8 top bracket, 8 second string, 8 academy.

Transfer predictions probably need to be viewed through that lens. Do some of our current top 8 become our backup 8? 

Addicksi

Scoham said:

Addicksi said:

I'm not sure about moving A Mitchell on. We sent a bunch out on loan and he and Kanu progressed. Mitchell is only 24 I think, and I like his character. 

We have better for his position in Ramsay and Sichenje (plus Burke, but he’s rarely fit), as well as Gough coming through.

He also has 1 year left on his contract so it makes sense to either get a fee or offer an extension and bring him into our first team squad. I just don’t see us keeping him when we’ll be aiming to finish higher next May

Maybe you're right but I've got a feeling he's going to have a good career. 

DamoNorthStand

I think from what we’ve seen in this league this season, 8 is far too many academy players for the squad. Maybe in league one (unless we are talking a players who have come up from the academy but are first teamers)….

Because in a 24 man squad, I would have Fullah and Gough and that’s it.

sam3110

Depends on what's defined as academy, if someone like Leaburn is still playing here in 5 years time is he a normal squad member or an academy player, even if he's in his mid twenties?

NabySarr

DamoNorthStand said:

I think from what we’ve seen in this league this season, 8 is far too many academy players for the squad. Maybe in league one (unless we are talking a players who have come up from the academy but are first teamers)….

Because in a 24 man squad, I would have Fullah and Gough and that’s it.

Campbell and Leaburn also count, but I’d agree 8 is too many at the moment 

Though we have actually technically had 8 in the squad in league fixtures this season 

Leaburn 
Campbell
Fullah 
Gough
AMB
Anderson 
Josh Laq 
Mwamba

cabbles

daveydanger said:

Seem to remember the “8-8-8” policy recently being reiterated. Think it was 8 top bracket, 8 second string, 8 academy.

Transfer predictions probably need to be viewed through that lens. Do some of our current top 8 become our backup 8? 

I think some need to be.  For what it’s worth, my replacements are (assuming we line up 3-5-2)

Kaminski/Mannion (I think both are okay on the basis I don’t see us pushing for promotion.  I’m happy with either, despite their shortcomings given I want sustainable progression)

RWB - Clarke is a good option, as is Fevrier, but we absolutely need to sort this position

LWB - I like Edwards, and I would be happy to see him return, but we don’t know if he will be able to step up after the injury, especially at the level we need him to.  At the very least we need cover for Edwards 

All three midfielders for me.  Hats off to Docherty for his contribution this season, the last two games when he’s like that you would have him as first name on the team sheet, but we can’t guarantee that and for all his leadership and overall play, we need some pace and a bit more creativity in there.  He’s more than capable of being a squad player, but if he’s a regular starter, I’m not sure 

Coventry should be moved on.  He’s not good enough at this level.  For the base of the midfield three, I want an absolute beast of a player for pace and bite.  Very hard to find but a key position for us.  

I’m not dismissing Carey’s goals as key this season, but as the season has gone on, if he doesn’t score, I don’t think he adds that much. Like Docherty, a good option as a squad player, but if we’re pushing on, in this position, we’re crying out for someone who can run with the ball, create chances and have that something special 

CF - we need another one of top quality.  Dykes will leave I expect.  Kelman I’ve always had time for and Godden is good, but Godden is not an option given age and injury record.  That leaves TC, Leaburn, Tanto, Kanu and Mbick.  Tanto needs to be moved on, TC is not good enough at this level.  Leaburn I expect could be moved on.  Mbick, exciting prospect, so could be an option, but not proven.  

I think one more top quality player in this area is important.  

We could of course do with back up in these and other positions, but I think this summer needs to be adding quality, real quality, rather than the numbers we brought in last summer 

bolloxbolder

Just a quickie on Coventry. We won't get much of a fee as a hefty percentage goes to the Hammers.

Crispywood

sam3110 said:

Depends on what's defined as academy, if someone like Leaburn is still playing here in 5 years time is he a normal squad member or an academy player, even if he's in his mid twenties?

think they described it as an 8 players from the academy at a time which i presume does count for TC Leaburn etc. I think they’re also talking about academy players as these types of players who won’t also come through on big wages, big signing on fees etc as well and are a more sustainable way to supply our squad 

fenaddick

Carter also said recently that in the Championship it needs to increase to 9+9+9

Braziliance

fenaddick said:

Carter also said recently that in the Championship it needs to increase to 9+9+9

Sounds like the board recognise next season might require emergency services 

Braziliance

I think we need to find a balance of good free agents, gambling fees on high end League 1 players and same goes for top flight leagues abroad. Millwall have shown a bit of a template in that regard.

Crama, Azeez and Caleb Taylor were all top League 1 players recently and have stepped up. They signed Ivanovic and De Norre from European top flight clubs who have been a success.

We should be looking to do the same. It's affordable, doesn't come at the risk of massive financial debt and of course makes us sustainable.

League 1 players like Ethan Pye, Archie Collins, Lorent Tolaj are players who are high end who could make the step up, reasonable wages with scope to improve.

Need to be looking at the Danish, Swedish, and especially Dutch top flights. There will be extremely talented players in those leagues who will be able to adjust to English football and will come cheaper without the English price tag.

What I don't want to see again is a bunch of lazy signings like ex Luton players or current, hardly any of them have really worked out. 

Crispywood

Would go in for Keillor-Dunn at Wrexham on loan if Jones drifts from his no loan policy (except in desperation in Jan + potential future signing), already have a 100% success rate from Wrexham loan signings 

Ferryman

YannTheMann said:

I've heard from a semi reliable source were after Jamie Allen from Cov. Sounds like the deal works for everyone ATM but to be taken with a pinch of salt as any transfer rumour 

Interesting rumour, but he's 32 in January. Maybe a replacement for Berry.

Ferryman

Addicksi said:

De Keersmaker would  be amazing or Ingleson from Shef Wed along with Lowe their left wingback. Ciaron Brown is an excellent suggestion from @Braziliance. Don't know if we could get Donley on loan as he knows how to find Kelmans runs.
Striker I don't know but hopefully a big mobile s'houser who isn't fazed by how bloody hard the Championship is. If it's Dykes I wouldn't mind either. 

I'd rather Brodie Spencer than Brown.

Addicksi

I like Spencer but he's a right footed rb cb, Brown is an leftie cb lb.

CAFCFW05

Wouldn’t be massively surprised if Lincoln were in for Mitchell in the summer

killerandflash

bolloxbolder said:

Just a quickie on Coventry. We won't get much of a fee as a hefty percentage goes to the Hammers.

We won't get much of a fee for him anyway. An average Championship midfielder with one year left on his contract.

I think this will be a difficult summer, as we have a lot of players we might want to move on, but they're not necessarily the ones other clubs want. We might still be stuck with the likes of Apter, Tanto and Ahadme unless we heavily subsidise their loan wages.

And we have a glut of strikers, none of which (for various reasons) can be considered the clear first choice.
Kelman - an in and out season. What system with NJ play next season?
TC - an NJ favourite, but finishing not good enough to play through the middle
Godden - the best finisher, but fitness worries, and out of contract so an easy way to reduce the numbers
Leaburn - a disappointing season, where he lost his place to Dykes as the target man option
Dykes - does a job, but out of contract. With him up front, we can look a bit one dimensional
Tanto - out on loan, where he hasn't excelled. May be difficult to sell
Kanu - a good L2 loan, but can be cut it in the Championship? And only one year left on his contract, do we renew or sell?
Mbick - a very promising youngster, but nowhere near being a Championship starter
Ahadme - oh dear

doronron

bolloxbolder said:

Just a quickie on Coventry. We won't get much of a fee as a hefty percentage goes to the Hammers.

Same as Alex Mitchell, Millwall have a  20% sell on clause 

fenaddick

doronron said:

bolloxbolder said:

Just a quickie on Coventry. We won't get much of a fee as a hefty percentage goes to the Hammers.

Same as Alex Mitchell, Millwall have a  20% sell on clause 

West Ham's is supposedly 50% which is significantly more

Ferryman

Addicksi said:

I like Spencer but he's a right footed rb cb, Brown is an leftie cb lb.

He is predominantly right footed but very comfortable on the left, including at international level.

Crispywood

doronron said:

bolloxbolder said:

Just a quickie on Coventry. We won't get much of a fee as a hefty percentage goes to the Hammers.

Same as Alex Mitchell, Millwall have a  20% sell on clause 

Was it confirmed to be 20% of profit or just 20% in general. If we sold him for 500k for example we could either make 400k or 460k won’t make the biggest of differences but obviously every little helps 

king addick

MarcusH26 said:

I'd still be activating the option on Goddens deal. Kelman should be the starter but Goddens experience will still be invaluable. 

Depends on the severity of the injury he has got. If he is going to be out for 2-3 months of the new season, What's the point in keeping him.

DennisBooth

Have heard from a friend that Ahadme will be getting a free transfer despite two years still remaining on his contract. What a waste of money he has been.