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Summer Window 2026 - Rumours and Discussion
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I reckon if we want to sign some real quality, we're going to have to take these kinds of risks.fenaddick said:
Perfect for us though, sign him upkillerandflash said:
Adebayo has just returned from his ACL injury, but unfortunately is now out for the rest of the season with a hip injury. It would have been nice to see him in a run of games.NabySarr said:He’s been out injured all season (so definitely one for us!), but I’d say there’s a good chance Elijah Adebayo joins us for pre-season in the summer to prove his fitness and then sign for us. A Nathan Jones favourite and scored 10 in the prem a couple of years ago, plus 16 for Jones in the championship2 -
Yeah I agree, that was the idea with Reece Burke after allChunes said:
I reckon if we want to sign some real quality, we're going to have to take these kinds of risks.fenaddick said:
Perfect for us though, sign him upkillerandflash said:
Adebayo has just returned from his ACL injury, but unfortunately is now out for the rest of the season with a hip injury. It would have been nice to see him in a run of games.NabySarr said:He’s been out injured all season (so definitely one for us!), but I’d say there’s a good chance Elijah Adebayo joins us for pre-season in the summer to prove his fitness and then sign for us. A Nathan Jones favourite and scored 10 in the prem a couple of years ago, plus 16 for Jones in the championship4 -
Interesting post. I think the answer is somewhere between the two. Our efforts this year have been commendable but have left us in a relegation battle. Nathan Jones has set us up to be very difficult to beat and it’s probably saved our skin this season. I doubt he’s going to abandon that. What I think he does recognise and said as much after the Norwich defeat was that we lacked some quality where and when it mattered. I don’t think he was talking about the defence. We ought to be focusing on some creativity in midfield and we definitely need to find a Matty Godden who can score regularly. None of our current strikers are prolific enough. I would imagine that we’ll see some tinkering with the defence but additions in midfield and up front. Security in mid table would be my watchword for next season.jose said:We are facing the football equivalent of the difficult second album.
A lot of fans now want aesthetically pleasing football like, say, Swansea City showed us this season.
However I am mindful of clubs like Rotherham, Blackpool, Barnsley, Plymouth, even Portsmouth and Oxford who have struggled after a good first season.
So now that we have an identity, which is certainly not about being stylish and beautiful, do we double down on that and become the type of team everybody might call anti-football in an effort to stay in the division, or do we operate on a baby with bathwater manoeuvre and take the risky option of becoming like the other teams?
Clearly fans want both beauty and success, is that achievable?0 -
Not fussed about playing "beautiful football", it doesn't translate to results in this league unless you have the financial power of an Ipswich or Boro. I hope/expect we can evolve and sign better players that are capable of implementing more sophisticated patterns of play besides "smash it up to Dykes and press for the second balls".
Similar to how we used to be seen as the model for clubs getting into the Premier League, I hope we're able to follow a similar trajectory to Millwall in the sense we sign talented young players, mixed with experience Championship heads.
Signing 4/5 Championship quality starters, with maybe 1/2 wildcards would be a good Summer.8 -
If nothing else this season has shown the type/quality of player we need to improve, the January window signings showed we probably had to recalibrate what we thought might be ok. The quality in the championship now compared to when we were last in it seems a lot higher. I think we have a good base in the squad to be able to really go for the extra quality needed for next season, obviously a bit of tweaking but we have the set up to be very competitive. I reckon as a whole the club will have learnt a lot from this season.ShootersHillGuru said:
Interesting post. I think the answer is somewhere between the two. Our efforts this year have been commendable but have left us in a relegation battle. Nathan Jones has set us up to be very difficult to beat and it’s probably saved our skin this season. I doubt he’s going to abandon that. What I think he does recognise and said as much after the Norwich defeat was that we lacked some quality where and when it mattered. I don’t think he was talking about the defence. We ought to be focusing on some creativity in midfield and we definitely need to find a Matty Godden who can score regularly. None of our current strikers are prolific enough. I would imagine that we’ll see some tinkering with the defence but additions in midfield and up front. Security in mid table would be my watchword for next season.jose said:We are facing the football equivalent of the difficult second album.
A lot of fans now want aesthetically pleasing football like, say, Swansea City showed us this season.
However I am mindful of clubs like Rotherham, Blackpool, Barnsley, Plymouth, even Portsmouth and Oxford who have struggled after a good first season.
So now that we have an identity, which is certainly not about being stylish and beautiful, do we double down on that and become the type of team everybody might call anti-football in an effort to stay in the division, or do we operate on a baby with bathwater manoeuvre and take the risky option of becoming like the other teams?
Clearly fans want both beauty and success, is that achievable?1 -
Millwall don’t actually play too dissimilar style to us. Big physical side that focus on counter attacks, lot of long balls crosses without focusing on possession or accurate passes.ElliotCAFC said:Not fussed about playing "beautiful football", it doesn't translate to results in this league unless you have the financial power of an Ipswich or Boro. I hope/expect we can evolve and sign better players that are capable of implementing more sophisticated patterns of play besides "smash it up to Dykes and press for the second balls".
Similar to how we used to be seen as the model for clubs getting into the Premier League, I hope we're able to follow a similar trajectory to Millwall in the sense we sign talented young players, mixed with experience Championship heads.
Signing 4/5 Championship quality starters, with maybe 1/2 wildcards would be a good Summer.I don’t think style of play massively needs to change but we need players who just have quality in the moments to win you games or get you goals out of nothing. a lot of games this season in particular at home like Wrexham leceister Swansea QPR Norwich even pompey if you look at the first 20mins. Despite playing boring football we could have very easily won a lot of those games instead of only managing 2 points if we had that extra bit of quality like an Ivanovic Azeez Neghli like Millwall have6 -
Our strategy seemed to be in the summer/winter to sign experienced championship defense and rely on younger talent who performed well in league one (both signings and internal) for the attack options. The problem is that the likes of Knibbs, TC, Leaburn, Kelman, Tanto, Apter -none of them have really performed at a high level. Some have shown small signs of being able to compete at this level but when you are in a relegation battle you don’t have the luxury of patience.Will the strategy change to looking for more experienced attack options? Will we have to continue to rely on the attacking options above given budget limitations? It is going to be an interesting summer0
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I get the feeling we may not recognise a few names that we will be linked with during the coming window, risky, but hoping we uncover some quality for our budget.3
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This feels like such an obvious move for the summer that despite his injuries I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.NabySarr said:He’s been out injured all season (so definitely one for us!), but I’d say there’s a good chance Elijah Adebayo joins us for pre-season in the summer to prove his fitness and then sign for us. A Nathan Jones favourite and scored 10 in the prem a couple of years ago, plus 16 for Jones in the championship0 -
Hasn’t really played this year and was poor for Luton in their relegation year the year before. I hope we are looking at someone betterMarcusH26 said:
This feels like such an obvious move for the summer that despite his injuries I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.NabySarr said:He’s been out injured all season (so definitely one for us!), but I’d say there’s a good chance Elijah Adebayo joins us for pre-season in the summer to prove his fitness and then sign for us. A Nathan Jones favourite and scored 10 in the prem a couple of years ago, plus 16 for Jones in the championship0 -
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We need a better central midfield. Players who still give a sold defensive shield, and work as hard as Coventry and Doc, but who are better on the ball, as we create so little from midfield. I'm not expecting massive flair there, but we do need something a bit better.
Indeed that's where I would have spent some money last summer.3 -
Think the answer to that is dependent on other clubs. From that list, this season has taught us Jones only really likes TC and even he may have to go with 1 year left on his deal. We can only bring in players if we get others off our books and to that we need clubs willing to give us money for these players.Bostonaddick said:Our strategy seemed to be in the summer/winter to sign experienced championship defense and rely on younger talent who performed well in league one (both signings and internal) for the attack options. The problem is that the likes of Knibbs, TC, Leaburn, Kelman, Tanto, Apter -none of them have really performed at a high level. Some have shown small signs of being able to compete at this level but when you are in a relegation battle you don’t have the luxury of patience.Will the strategy change to looking for more experienced attack options? Will we have to continue to rely on the attacking options above given budget limitations? It is going to be an interesting summer
Whilst I don’t think we would actively force out these players none of them we would be fighting to keep. If any club came in and offered what we bought them for every single one of them would be gone0 -
It would be a gamble, but as long as you have 4 or 5 other strikers you are happy with then it’s probably worth taking. Obviously he’d have to come in for pre-season and play some games to prove his fitness first, but if you get him back to the level he was a few years ago he’d be one of the best strikers in the leagueBostonaddick said:
Hasn’t really played this year and was poor for Luton in their relegation year the year before. I hope we are looking at someone betterMarcusH26 said:
This feels like such an obvious move for the summer that despite his injuries I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.NabySarr said:He’s been out injured all season (so definitely one for us!), but I’d say there’s a good chance Elijah Adebayo joins us for pre-season in the summer to prove his fitness and then sign for us. A Nathan Jones favourite and scored 10 in the prem a couple of years ago, plus 16 for Jones in the championship0 -
I fully expect Chapple has been racking up the air miles in some quite left field leagues to try and find better value players than shopping domestically.Sword65pf said:I get the feeling we may not recognise a few names that we will be linked with during the coming window, risky, but hoping we uncover some quality for our budget.
Wouldn't be at all surprised to see 2-3 wildcards from abroad and at least one to be a CM.2 -
If Oxford were to be relegated, I wonder if they would be tempted to sell Brannigan. May be too much for our budget but would be a definite step up in quality.killerandflash said:We need a better central midfield. Players who still give a sold defensive shield, and work as hard as Coventry and Doc, but who are better on the ball, as we create so little from midfield. I'm not expecting massive flair there, but we do need something a bit better.
Indeed that's where I would have spent some money last summer.0 -
I think Apter will come good in the right system and we should persevere with him. We haven’t really seen enough of Knibbs to make a judgement call plus he didn’t have a full pre season, because of a slight injury, so the jury is still out. Unfortunately I don’t think Tanto has a future.Crispywood said:
Think the answer to that is dependent on other clubs. From that list, this season has taught us Jones only really likes TC and even he may have to go with 1 year left on his deal. We can only bring in players if we get others off our books and to that we need clubs willing to give us money for these players.Bostonaddick said:Our strategy seemed to be in the summer/winter to sign experienced championship defense and rely on younger talent who performed well in league one (both signings and internal) for the attack options. The problem is that the likes of Knibbs, TC, Leaburn, Kelman, Tanto, Apter -none of them have really performed at a high level. Some have shown small signs of being able to compete at this level but when you are in a relegation battle you don’t have the luxury of patience.Will the strategy change to looking for more experienced attack options? Will we have to continue to rely on the attacking options above given budget limitations? It is going to be an interesting summer
Whilst I don’t think we would actively force out these players none of them we would be fighting to keep. If any club came in and offered what we bought them for every single one of them would be gone
The problem is if we do try to move on Tanto, Knibbs, Apter, maybe even JRC, then we won’t be recouping anywhere near the fees we paid for them. Maybe expensive gambles that didn’t pay off.
I’m sure we can move on other squad players, like A. Mitchell, but again it won’t raise much. If TC and/or Ramsay won’t sign extensions then I can see both being sold but again it won’t be for huge fees.
There will be significant squad churn though. And like others have said I can see us paying bigger wages to attract those available on free transfers with a couple from abroad for decent fees, just hope we can unearth a couple more gems like Schindje seems to be.1 -
Hope so, I quite like that type of signing, brings a bit of excitement……… until we see them play!!!😂MarcusH26 said:
I fully expect Chapple has been racking up the air miles in some quite left field leagues to try and find better value players than shopping domestically.Sword65pf said:I get the feeling we may not recognise a few names that we will be linked with during the coming window, risky, but hoping we uncover some quality for our budget.
Wouldn't be at all surprised to see 2-3 wildcards from abroad and at least one to be a CM.1 -
This season has shown us it's not just about how good your starting XI and best subs are, but your quality beyond that. Injuries will happen, we will need to play different styles throughout the year and players will go in and out of form. This squad has shown it's capable of some really good performances and runs, but it's lacking top end talent which means inconsistency and missed opportunities. I think quality signings at CM and ST should be our priority, but for us to get closer to the top half of the table we need to improve everywhere.
Obviously with our budget that's not feasible. I also don't think huge turnover every year is good for the club and, personally, I don't see the need for wholesale changes at this stage in our 'journey'; I'd prefer to try and improve gradually as I think we could do with a few years of stability and consolidation.
That means this window is about prioritising certain positions and profiles, taking a couple of risks on 'projects' from abroad (a la Sichenje) and targeting value for money signings (frees) - this will probably still mean six or seven signings! The last of those is an area where Jones has succeeded - both at Charlton and historically. Jones has spoken about his 'no dickheads' policy, which has given us an honest squad of battlers. I think experience and versatility should continue to be characteristics we look for. Above all else it's talent and quality that we need to see come in.
I think a busy Summer is in store!1 -
Tom Iorpenda is the type of rangy, athletic midfielder we need, currently helping Notts County into play-offs but would need a fee to Hudds.2
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NEW/Kaminski Mannion
Ramsay NEW
Sichenje Burke/Gough
Jones NEW
Bell NEW
Edwards NEW
NEW Coventry
NEW JRC/Docherty
Carey Knibbs
Mbick Leaburn Dykes
Kelman NEWDon’t think we need as much as last season but there’s still a lot of work to be done0 -
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I rarely post, but someone at the training ground said Jones is looking to bring in 12 players over the summer.
That would mean a load of outs of fringe players and currently on loan youth players that won't make it despite what other posters on here say9 -
I'd want a keeper, 2 new centre backs, a left wing back, a right wing back, 2 central midfielders, a number 10 and 2 new strikers, so essentially a whole new team other than Jones.
Some would be squad players, some starters.
If we only sign 5 or 6 players they almost all need to be starters.
New/Kaminski
New/Ramsay
Sichenje/New
Jones/Burke
Bell/New
Edwards/New
New/Docherty
New/Coventry
Carey/New
Kelman/TC
New/Leaburn
With Knibbs, Gillesphey, Mannion, Apter, Fullah and Rankin-Costello kept as squad options.
This would mean a lot of guys leaving on frees, on loan or sold, including Olaofe, Godden, Berry, Asiimwe, Anderson, Ahadme, Mitchell, Mitchell, Dixon, Mbick, Kanu, Taylor and Gough.
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Ok lets assume 12 in means 12 out, who is that likely to be? This is my best guess, including loanees going back
A Mitchell, Z Mitchell, Taylor, Burke, Kanu, Ahadme, Berry, Asiimwe, Tanto, Coady, Chambers, Clarke0 -
So, it seems everyone has written off Godden for next year, not sure that we should be so hasty...🤔5
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If that's true its a big turnover, not necessarily a bad thing but could go badly wrong given how much the ''team spirit" and collectiveness is crucial to Jones’s methods. Getting 12 players all good enough and all having the Jones mentality as well will be one he'll of a job, especially given even some of last summers signings arguably fell down on at least one of the two factors.bolloxbolder said:I rarely post, but someone at the training ground said Jones is looking to bring in 12 players over the summer.
That would mean a load of outs of fringe players and currently on loan youth players that won't make it despite what other posters on here say0 -
Because he's barely played this season and will be another year older.eastterrace6168 said:So, it seems everyone has written off Godden for next year, not sure that we should be so hasty...🤔
I can't see us extending him tbh4 -
We shall see, he will be 35 at the start of next season, and if he's fit and ready over the close season I could see Jones offering him a years contract...sam3110 said:
Because he's barely played this season and will be another year older.eastterrace6168 said:So, it seems everyone has written off Godden for next year, not sure that we should be so hasty...🤔
I can't see us extending him tbh3 -
I am forever optimistic when we sign a new player and hope this is the one we want. Unfortunately I am forever being disappointed but still hope we will get more right than wrong unlike this seasons signings0
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35 this summer and injury prone. On an emotional level we’d all love him to stay on a footballing decision we shouldn’t be keeping him, unless he comes back and suddenly scores for fun and proves his fitness in the last 7 games which I highly doubteastterrace6168 said:So, it seems everyone has written off Godden for next year, not sure that we should be so hasty...🤔
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What's wrong with Mannion?sam3110 said:I'd want a keeper, 2 new centre backs, a left wing back, a right wing back, 2 central midfielders, a number 10 and 2 new strikers, so essentially a whole new team other than Jones.
Some would be squad players, some starters.
If we only sign 5 or 6 players they almost all need to be starters.
New/Kaminski
New/Ramsay
Sichenje/New
Jones/Burke
Bell/New
Edwards/New
New/Docherty
New/Coventry
Carey/New
Kelman/TC
New/Leaburn
With Knibbs, Gillesphey, Mannion, Apter, Fullah and Rankin-Costello kept as squad options.
This would mean a lot of guys leaving on frees, on loan or sold, including Olaofe, Godden, Berry, Asiimwe, Anderson, Ahadme, Mitchell, Mitchell, Dixon, Mbick, Kanu, Taylor and Gough.5
