Summer Window 2026 - Rumours and Discussion

golfaddick

Danny Addick said:

Did we really keep our powder dry to make 2 loan signings for cm and rw? 

It's all talk. 

I know frees & loans attract up front payments, and some players such as Grant & Chalobah will be on higher wages than our average players, but our transfer outlay falls short of what most on here would have thought we would have spent by the season opener. 

And no-one will convince me that we've been chasing Ouma for months. Per-leeease.

DOUCHER

EugenesAxe said:

Braziliance has found a new job as CAFC's SM Disruptor, if a rumour looks like it's gaining traction his job is to go onto various platforms and feed the line that it's not a player it's his friend...

Just what I was thinking - they’ve brought him inside the tent - wise move 

995632

Bailey said:

The point I was trying to make is that Chalobah and Ouma are both defensive midfield players, and unless Nathan Jones has a plan it's hard to imagine us playing both. 

https://news.22bet.com/news/timothy-ouma-biography-kenya-midfielder/

"Work Rate, Movement & Tactical Awareness

Beyond the highlight clips, his work rate is a major asset. He presses, tracks runners and helps in defensive transition, showing the stamina to repeat actions late. Off the ball, his movement and tactical awareness let him play as a deeper playmaker, advanced 8 or wide midfielder, drifting inside. That versatility and growing coordination with teammates improve each European season. "

fenaddick

golfaddick said:

Danny Addick said:

Did we really keep our powder dry to make 2 loan signings for cm and rw? 

It's all talk. 

I know frees & loans attract up front payments, and some players such as Grant & Chalobah will be on higher wages than our average players, but our transfer outlay falls short of what most on here would have thought we would have spent by the season opener. 

And no-one will convince me that we've been chasing Ouma for months. Per-leeease.

Not sure we’ll have been chasing him for months but he’ll have been on our list. I still think Holsgrove was our prime target and we either realised we couldn’t get him and went for Chalobah or decided Chalobah was better value for money and gave us the budget to look at someone like Ouma. I would guess we’re covering a hefty chunk of his wages 

AberystwythAddick

DOUCHER said:

NabySarr said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

NabySarr said:

If TC does leave for Preston, I’d expect it to be late in the window. That gives us time to sign another winger, and also get Alli and Apter fully fit. If we lost TC this week I’d be quite concerned about our options for Saturday 

We also play Preston later this month, surely we don’t let them have TC until after that. And if we start the season well and they don’t maybe TC will re-assess who he’d rather commit too 

Why would TC want to leave now when Nathan seems to be bringing quality players that judging by the game last Saturday is going to make his season very enjoyable and make his prospects all the much better ?

I agree, but the best thing for TC to do is probably not commit to signing for us now and see how the season goes. But the club might say to him he either needs to sign a new contract or they will sell him. It’s a difficult situation 

I don’t see the issue with running the contract down and then it’s up to us to match other offers in a year’s time - each year we stay up, in theory we should be more attractive / able to offer more - I think the shrewd business we have done with these 2 in midfield makes it less likely we need the TC cash to help sort that issue out 

He could also sign for a foreign team in Jan. 

I think a couple of teams in Scotland would bite your hand off to get him. 

DOUCHER

golfaddick said:

NabySarr said:

AberystwythAddick said:

NabySarr said:

If TC does leave for Preston, I’d expect it to be late in the window. That gives us time to sign another winger, and also get Alli and Apter fully fit. If we lost TC this week I’d be quite concerned about our options for Saturday 

We also play Preston later this month, surely we don’t let them have TC until after that. And if we start the season well and they don’t maybe TC will re-assess who he’d rather commit too 

Grant would be the starting lw if TC were to leave.
i don’t think we would be signing a winger to replace tc rather one to play on the right 

Yes but until we sign that player, TC will be starting. Hence why I said we shouldn’t even be considering selling him now, with no new winger signed and Alli/Apter both not fully fit yet 

So TC and Grant will start on the wings on Saturday, so a new signing would be replacing TC in the team. 

Plus, it’s only 1 game but if TC carries on like he did on Saturday against championship opposition then he will be starting and Grant will be either on the bench or playing up front 

What did TC do on Saturday that, to you, makes him un-droppable ?  Yes he scored a good goal (then so did Godden) and he hit the bar. But tjat was all while playing on the left. in all his time on the right he did nothing special. He didnt beat his man or put a cross in. Neither did he cut in & shoot from the right. From what I could see all his best bits came from being on the left. 

I've seen TC twice playing on the right this pre season & neither times did it work. No crosses nor cut insides. 

If we are going to keep TC then we have to play him on the left. Imo if we can get £3m+ for him now I'd sell him. 

I think the plan is to play Grant partly down the middle as well so there will be plenty of opportunity for TC down the left and not forgetting if we want to do 532, he can do a job at LWB 

sam3110

The whole point of the modern game is you have a squad of players that can rotate in and out without the overall quality dropping, so you need TC AND Grant to be fit and playing well, same as Knibbs and Carey, same as Edwards (when fit) and Mesík, Ouma and Coventry etc etc.

I don't think form comes into it as much as we like to think, look at Man City (extreme example I know) but Pep had no qualms about playing someone, them scoring a brace, then they'd be on the bench next game

DOUCHER

SteveACS said:

Bailey said:

The point I was trying to make is that Chalobah and Ouma are both defensive midfield players, and unless Nathan Jones has a plan it's hard to imagine us playing both. 

You've never heard of the double pivot?

It’s a figure skating term or one used by female football coaches to try and sound clever 

Covered End

golfaddick said:

Danny Addick said:

Did we really keep our powder dry to make 2 loan signings for cm and rw? 

It's all talk. 

I know frees & loans attract up front payments, and some players such as Grant & Chalobah will be on higher wages than our average players, but our transfer outlay falls short of what most on here would have thought we would have spent by the season opener. 

And no-one will convince me that we've been chasing Ouma for months. Per-leeease.

No one said we were chasing Ouma for months.

But if Holsgrove is not gonna happening you move on to your next best option if you’ve half a brain or would you have preferred us to sign Foo Kin Noone.

Jeez I’m signing out for the night as the stupidity levels are too much at times.

Crispywood

The Red Robin said:

I’d rather let TC walk on a free and hopefully get some compensation for him. He’s got enough to contribute to help keep us up and there’s more money involved there than selling him now. 

If TC does go Grant would be the replacement for the LW role. I would love TC to say but I don’t think there’s a dramatic fall off from TC to Grant which would turn us into a relegation side, both of them can play off the right but both are clearly better off the left 

2121

We just need to pay tc what he's worth in the market and secure the contract 

Valley11

Still think centre mid is light on quality. If Challobah gets a knock we'll be back to Ouma plus Cov or Doc. I like both by the way, but we need more quality if we want to avoid a relegation scrap.

Sword65pf

Covered End said:

golfaddick said:

Danny Addick said:

Did we really keep our powder dry to make 2 loan signings for cm and rw? 

It's all talk. 

I know frees & loans attract up front payments, and some players such as Grant & Chalobah will be on higher wages than our average players, but our transfer outlay falls short of what most on here would have thought we would have spent by the season opener. 

And no-one will convince me that we've been chasing Ouma for months. Per-leeease.

No one said we were chasing Ouma for months.

But if Holsgrove is not gonna happening you move on to your next best option if you’ve half a brain or would you have preferred us to sign Foo Kin Noone.

Jeez I’m signing out for the night as the stupidity levels are too much at times.

To be fair they said they had been looking at him a long time, I’d say that indicates months.

DOUCHER

Crispywood said:

The Red Robin said:

I’d rather let TC walk on a free and hopefully get some compensation for him. He’s got enough to contribute to help keep us up and there’s more money involved there than selling him now. 

If TC does go Grant would be the replacement for the LW role. I would love TC to say but I don’t think there’s a dramatic fall off from TC to Grant which would turn us into a relegation side, both of them can play off the right but both are clearly better off the left 

I see them as very different players - grant has the nouse, link up play and finishing ability - TC has the ability to go past defenders with ease and give them the runaround - Grant can’t do that 

NabySarr

DOUCHER said:

Crispywood said:

The Red Robin said:

I’d rather let TC walk on a free and hopefully get some compensation for him. He’s got enough to contribute to help keep us up and there’s more money involved there than selling him now. 

If TC does go Grant would be the replacement for the LW role. I would love TC to say but I don’t think there’s a dramatic fall off from TC to Grant which would turn us into a relegation side, both of them can play off the right but both are clearly better off the left 

I see them as very different players - grant has the nouse, link up play and finishing ability - TC has the ability to go past defenders with ease and give them the runaround - Grant can’t do that 

Alli can do that though, but I think he doesn’t quite have the fitness to do the running without the ball that TC and Grant can do 

NabySarr

Valley11 said:

Still think centre mid is light on quality. If Challobah gets a knock we'll be back to Ouma plus Cov or Doc. I like both by the way, but we need more quality if we want to avoid a relegation scrap.

We had one or both of Cov and Doc playing in pretty much every game last season and stayed up. This season we will need them to play less but they are both good enough to play a role again 

Think it’s quite disrespectful the way people are talking about them both when they both contributed to us winning plenty of points last season. Docherty away at Sheffield United was probably one of the best individual performances of the season. It’s not like having to play one of them means we will definitely be losing games. Playing 1 of them is absolutely fine, they both have good attributes, it’s just playing them together in this system that is not ideal