Summer Transfer Window 2025 | Official Thread

[stubbo-admin]

May as well get going with this since with Sullivan at the helm, season ticket renewals slow, and the football vacuum to commence, this will soon be all the "news" there is.

Can Potter and MacCauley pull multiple rabbits out of the hat, or will Sullivan 'try really hard' with all of them before grabbing a few aging bargains from Big Willie Salthouse?

Window this close season comes in two parts:

Part 1: 1st June to 10th June
Part 2: 16th June to 1st September

Rumoured Outs...most of the squad

Let the "Rumoured In's" commence. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Player | Position | Club | Fee (GBP)

Rumoured In

1. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic
2. Koni De Winter | CB | Genoa
3. Morten Frendrup | DM | Genoa
4. Richard Kone | ST | Wycombe
5. Aaron Ramsdale | GK | Southampton
6. Caiomin Kelleher | GK | Liverpool
7. James Trafford | GK | Burnley
8. Kyle Walker-Peters | FB | Free Agent
9. Taylor Harwood-Bellis | CB | Southampton
10. CJ Egan-Riley | CB | Free Agent
11. Josh Brownhill | CM | Free Agent
12. Albian Hajdari | CB | Lugano
13. Lucas Høgsberg | CB | FC Nordsjælland
14. Ardon Jashari | CM | Brugge
15. Raphael Onyedika | CM | Brugge
16. James McAtee | AM | Man City
17. Mario Struykens | AM | Anderlecht
18. Mathias Kvistgaarden | ST | Brondby
19. Clement Bischoff | LB | Brondby
20. Mika Biereth | FW | Monaco
21. Barış Alper Yılmaz | AM | Galatasaray
22. Evann Guessand | ST | Nice
23. Lucas Stassin | ST | Saint Etienne
24. Marcus Taverner | FW | Bournemouth
25. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco
26. Valentin Atangana | CM | Stade Reims
27. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester City
28. Hamza Igamane | ST | Rangers
29. Yeremay | FW | Deportivo La Coruna
30. Adama Bojang | ST | Reims
31. Rocco Reitz | MF | Borussia Moenchengladbach
32. Dominic Calvert-Lewin | ST | Free Agent
33. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LB | SK Slavia Prague
34. Oscar Mingueza | RB/MF | Celta Vigo
35. Tyler Morton | CM | Liverpool
36. Harvey Elliott | AM | Liverpool
37. Zion Suzuki | GK | Parma
38. John Victor | GK | Botofogo 
39. Jacob Ramsey | MF | Villa
40. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton
41. Nga Makou | CM | Lille
42. Quinten Timber | CM
43. Hayden Hackney | CM | Boro
44. Yves Bissouma | CM | Spurs

Rumoured Out

1. Nayef Aguerd | CB | Leverkusen, Marseile
2. Maxel Cornet | FW | Genoa/Others
3. Guido Rodriguez | DM | Betis/Espanyol
4. Tomas Soucek | CM | Everton
5. Michail Antonio | ST | Free Agent
6. Mo Kudus | FW | Chelsea/Newcastle/Arsenal
7. Lucas Paqueta | AM | Man City
8. Andy Irving | CM | Celtic/Wrexham
9. Emerson | LB | Marseille

Confirmed In

1. Jean Clair Todibo | CB | Loan To Perm (32m)
2. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic (Free Agent...Tribunal)
3. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LWB | Slavia Prahia | 20m
4. Kyle Walker-Peters | RWB | Free Agent
5. C****m Wilson | ST | Free Agent
6. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester (18m)
7. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton (38m + 4m)
8. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco (17m)
9. Igor Julio | CB | Brighton (Loan)

Confirmed Out

1. Aaron Cresswell | LB | Free Agent | 0m
2. Danny Ings | ST | Free Agent | 0m
3. Vladimir Coufal | RB | Free Agent | 0m
4. Lukusz Fabianski | GK | Free Agent | 0m
5. Kamari Swyer | AM | Free Agent | 0m
6. Kurt Zouma | CB | Free Agent | 0m
7. Carlos Soler | CM | PSG | End of Loan
8. Evan Ferguson | ST | Brighton | End of Loan
9. Brad Dolaghan | Released
10. Dondre Abraham | Released
11. Mehmet Halim | Released
12. Muhammed Judus |stroppy| sp*rs| £55m
13. Michail Antonio | Released
14. Kieran Casey | Swansea | Loan
15. Edson Alvarez | Fenerbache | Loan with Option
16. Emerson | Marseille | £1m
17. Aguerd | Marseille | £20m
18. Max Cornet | Genoa | Loan

[Russ of the BML]

The potless dwarf must be laughing his bollox off . The whole fanbase are arguing amongst ourselves.. surely we're all united that he needs to fuck off pronto . Concentrate on him and it will soon improve. 

I disagree. The whole fanbase is not arguing amongst themselves. Debating about the best way forward yes, but arguing, no. In fact, I think the fanbase is more united now than ever before:

Sullivan is the fundamental problem and has to go
Brady is the fundamental problem and has to go
Potter is useless and has to go

I mean, bar a few people who are still saying Potter needs more time, I think we are all pretty much on the same page. 

[southbankbornnbred]

Basically, we have a LOT of players on big money who probably aren't most people's idea of a current first-teamer - and we'll struggle to move them: Areola, Kilman, Aguerd, Mav, Alvarez, Rodriguez, Soucek, JWP, Cornet. Add a couple of regular crocks upfront, a couple of injured young wingers (who we've barely seen in claret and blue), and it's not great. Potter doesn't even use wingers, so it's hard to know what he'll do with Summerville and Guilherme when they do come back. Even the supposed Brazilian maestro in midfield seems like he stopped bothering after his dream move collapsed - and he's struggling to get going again, despite his reprieve.

It's a shitshow: the end result of years in which a poor chairman appointed poor managers who bought poor players (or had them forced on him!).

[Lato]

The potless dwarf must be laughing his bollox off . The whole fanbase are arguing amongst ourselves.. surely we're all united that he needs to fuck off pronto . Concentrate on him and it will soon improve. 

 

 

Lets hope so! 

[Pshyco scored all 4]

And don't tell me he can take flak . He can't . the Birmingham city supporters showed how to get him out . 

[Pshyco scored all 4]

The potless dwarf must be laughing his bollox off . The whole fanbase are arguing amongst ourselves.. surely we're all united that he needs to fuck off pronto . Concentrate on him and it will soon improve. 

[Lato]

 
I didn't say he wasn't I said you can't judge a player because he didn't play well against us, Bowen was poor against Sunderland therefore they shouldn't sign him by your logic... 

Then again you could have watched Paqueta be motm against England for Brazil so then you can sign him, your logic is flawed. Lots of world class players have had bad games against us so according to you we should never sign them. 

I think most of us (obviously not you ) can forgive Bowen for one poor game in a blue moon. Mind you what service did he get against Sunderland?

Brazilian gets MOTM shocker against England, hmmm......whatever next? Funny he hasn't represented his Country since June last year.............can't think why? 

[southbankbornnbred]

I like the full-backs/wing-backs, generally speaking. AWB, Diouf, Emerson (yep, he's better than many give him credit for) and Scarles as a younger back-up are a decent crop. Have some doubts about KWP, but prepared to give him a chance as back-up to AWB.

[southbankbornnbred]

I agree. We're just really poor at centre back, whichever duo or trio we play there.

Todibo aside (and he hasn't covered himself in glory yet), I think they're all below-average players by Premier League standards, and with limited potential or ceilings, or whatever you want to call it.

Aguerd is a decent/good player in less physical leagues. But whether he likes it or not, the Premier League is still fast and furious and we've seen him struggle with its weekly intensity and power. Teams target him (and others) at set pieces and with physicality - the Sunderland lump said as much after the game on Saturday when he talked about how we had "well known weaknesses".

Mav and Kilman are just below average/bottom half players, I'm afraid. Todibo has potential, clearly, and looks like he could, with the right coaching, be half of any solution. But he needs to get fully fit, get fully committed and improve his consistency.

As with midfield, we've got a lot of money invested in bang average, or worse, players on big wages. That's our BIG problem - who will buy them and why would they leave when they won't get more in wages elsewhere?

[Massive Attack]

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

 

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be my preferred formations when all are fit. I'd play Paqueta in Summervilles absence for now but it would look like this..

     Hermansen 

Wan-bissaka Todibo Kilman Diouf

       Soucek Potts Paqueta 

       Bowen Fullkrug Summerville

It just feels to me like he's overcomplicating it needlessly, or maybe because that's just his preferred style, however I don't think the players are getting it or like playing how he wants them to. 

Todibo and Kilman would scare the shit out of me.

At the moment they all do, be it Mavropanos, Aguerd, Kilman, Todibo, it doesn't really matter the combination as they all look like waxwork dummies. 

[twoleftfeet]

I'm not so convinced that all our Defenders are dogshit. We play with 5 at the back that includes the impressive Wan-Bissaka and now Diouf and yet even with 5 at the back we still concede 3 with ease and could have been more. Take Aguerd who after a season away from us was widely praised for his form at Real Sociedad/Morocco where even Real Madrid were sniffing and he did help us to win a Trophy. Yet we produce that on the weekend where they all looked toilet. 5 at the back and that happens against a newly promoted side for fuck sake. 

What that tells me is it's more down to the Manager than our entire Defence being shit and the way he sets the Team up. 5 at the back doesn't suit our Team, yet he stubbornly persists with it.

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

 

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be my preferred formations when all are fit. I'd play Paqueta in Summervilles absence for now but it would look like this..

     Hermansen 

Wan-bissaka Todibo Kilman Diouf

       Soucek Potts Paqueta 

       Bowen Fullkrug Summerville

It just feels to me like he's overcomplicating it needlessly, or maybe because that's just his preferred style, however I don't think the players are getting it or like playing how he wants them to. 

Todibo and Kilman would scare the shit out of me.

[Massive Attack]

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

 

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be my preferred formations when all are fit. I'd play Paqueta in Summervilles absence for now but it would look like this..

     Hermansen 

Wan-bissaka Todibo Kilman Diouf

       Soucek Potts Paqueta 

       Bowen Fullkrug Summerville

It just feels to me like he's overcomplicating it needlessly, or maybe because that's just his preferred style, however I don't think the players are getting it or like playing how he wants them to. 

I’d bench Kilman for Aguerd. Maxi’s been dreadful. 

Yep, I'd bench them all, they've been that bad. 

[Pub Bigot]

I'm not so convinced that all our Defenders are dogshit. We play with 5 at the back that includes the impressive Wan-Bissaka and now Diouf and yet even with 5 at the back we still concede 3 with ease and could have been more. Take Aguerd who after a season away from us was widely praised for his form at Real Sociedad/Morocco where even Real Madrid were sniffing and he did help us to win a Trophy. Yet we produce that on the weekend where they all looked toilet. 5 at the back and that happens against a newly promoted side for fuck sake. 

What that tells me is it's more down to the Manager than our entire Defence being shit and the way he sets the Team up. 5 at the back doesn't suit our Team, yet he stubbornly persists with it.

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

 

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be my preferred formations when all are fit. I'd play Paqueta in Summervilles absence for now but it would look like this..

     Hermansen 

Wan-bissaka Todibo Kilman Diouf

       Soucek Potts Paqueta 

       Bowen Fullkrug Summerville

It just feels to me like he's overcomplicating it needlessly, or maybe because that's just his preferred style, however I don't think the players are getting it or like playing how he wants them to. 

I’d bench Kilman for Aguerd. Maxi’s been dreadful. 

[El Scorchio]

The thing is, our 3 CBs are all poor for various reasons, but they also fit the profile that Potter would want anyway as his whole focus is on possession, and as bad as they are defensively, Todibo, Kilman and Aguerd are all better at passing the ball and playing out from the back than most of the defenders we've had over the years.

Then you have the whole thing about Bowen being our only goal threat because he creates his own chances. Again, a lot of this is down to how the manager wants to play. He's not interested in midfielders who can make an incisive pass to quickly put an attacker in on goal. He wants them to keep possession above all else.

This is why I don't see us improving much even if Potter was given full control over all transfers in and out and a reasonable budget to spend. The way he wants to play only works if you have the very best players at your disposal and we'll never have the budget for that.

 

The Bowen thing has applied under all three managers he's played for. He's the only consistent goalscorer we've had for 4-5 years. 

 

I would go as far as saying for the last 20 years, since Jermaine Defoe.

.

 

 

Yup, you are probably right. I think we have had a maybe few who WOULD/COULD have gone on to be that had we kept them- Ba obviously, maybe Arnie, Kanoute, and a few one season wonders- Sakho, but no one who has been consistent and been at the club for a decent while. Ashton obviously would have been a real standout but we know what cruelly happened there. He was either going to score a hatful of goals for us or someone else.

We've been pretty lucky with Bowen. 74 in 238 (almost 1 in 3?) is an extraordinary GPG ratio for a player playing for our club for an extended time in the last generation. I can only think of Defoe and Di Canio who can boast similar. A chunk of Defoe's were in the second tier though. He scored a lot in that season before we sold him. Those two of course played at a time when we were an attacking side, which probably makes Bowen's exploits more successful in comparison- and he doesn't take penalties.

[Massive Attack]

I'm not so convinced that all our Defenders are dogshit. We play with 5 at the back that includes the impressive Wan-Bissaka and now Diouf and yet even with 5 at the back we still concede 3 with ease and could have been more. Take Aguerd who after a season away from us was widely praised for his form at Real Sociedad/Morocco where even Real Madrid were sniffing and he did help us to win a Trophy. Yet we produce that on the weekend where they all looked toilet. 5 at the back and that happens against a newly promoted side for fuck sake. 

What that tells me is it's more down to the Manager than our entire Defence being shit and the way he sets the Team up. 5 at the back doesn't suit our Team, yet he stubbornly persists with it.

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

 

 

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 would be my preferred formations when all are fit. I'd play Paqueta in Summervilles absence for now but it would look like this..

 

     Hermansen 

Wan-bissaka Todibo Kilman Diouf

       Soucek Potts Paqueta 

       Bowen Fullkrug Summerville

It just feels to me like he's overcomplicating it needlessly, or maybe because that's just his preferred style, however I don't think the players are getting it or like playing how he wants them to. 

[scott_d]

 

The thing is, our 3 CBs are all poor for various reasons, but they also fit the profile that Potter would want anyway as his whole focus is on possession, and as bad as they are defensively, Todibo, Kilman and Aguerd are all better at passing the ball and playing out from the back than most of the defenders we've had over the years.

Then you have the whole thing about Bowen being our only goal threat because he creates his own chances. Again, a lot of this is down to how the manager wants to play. He's not interested in midfielders who can make an incisive pass to quickly put an attacker in on goal. He wants them to keep possession above all else.

This is why I don't see us improving much even if Potter was given full control over all transfers in and out and a reasonable budget to spend. The way he wants to play only works if you have the very best players at your disposal and we'll never have the budget for that.

 

The Bowen thing has applied under all three managers he's played for. He's the only consistent goalscorer we've had for 4-5 years. 

 

 

I would go as far as saying for the last 20 years, since Jermaine Defoe.

.

[Sydney_Iron]

Signings in the last 24hrs: from 2 clubs that seem well run and getting business done in a timely manner, identifying players then getting them, both are leaving us behind, what have we done this window?  

Doak from Liverpool to Bournemouth: 20+5m
Omari Hutchinson From Ipswich to Forest: 37.5m
Arnaud Kalimuendo from Rennes to Forest: 26m

[twoleftfeet]

I'm not so convinced that all our Defenders are dogshit. We play with 5 at the back that includes the impressive Wan-Bissaka and now Diouf and yet even with 5 at the back we still concede 3 with ease and could have been more. Take Aguerd who after a season away from us was widely praised for his form at Real Sociedad/Morocco where even Real Madrid were sniffing and he did help us to win a Trophy. Yet we produce that on the weekend where they all looked toilet. 5 at the back and that happens against a newly promoted side for fuck sake. 

What that tells me is it's more down to the Manager than our entire Defence being shit and the way he sets the Team up. 5 at the back doesn't suit our Team, yet he stubbornly persists with it.

So are you advocating a 4-4-2 system?

Have KWP and Scarles as full backs with AWB and Diouf in front of them as “ wingers “ ? 

[Massive Attack]

I'm not so convinced that all our Defenders are dogshit. We play with 5 at the back that includes the impressive Wan-Bissaka and now Diouf and yet even with 5 at the back we still concede 3 with ease and could have been more. Take Aguerd who after a season away from us was widely praised for his form at Real Sociedad/Morocco where even Real Madrid were sniffing and he did help us to win a Trophy. Yet we produce that on the weekend where they all looked toilet. 5 at the back and that happens against a newly promoted side for fuck sake. 

What that tells me is it's more down to the Manager than our entire Defence being shit and the way he sets the Team up. 5 at the back doesn't suit our Team, yet he stubbornly persists with it.

[El Scorchio]

That's it. Lop will have said 'I managed him, I want him.'
In fairness to Sullivan (cannot believe I typed that) that should be good enough to go after a player. However where the due diligence should have come in is over the price tag contract length and wages for the player because clearly we paid way over the odds on a ridiculous contract handcuffing ourselves to the player. At 27 was he going to get any better than he apparently was to warrant tying him down for so long? Those are the contracts Chelsea give to 21 year olds who they expect to either make the team or sell on for big money- big difference likely being the wages are probably not even half what we committed to Kilman

Those are the numbers you pay for someone international quality. Which Kilman is clearly nowhere near being. I didn't really watch him at Wolves- was he miles better there? Surrounded by better players? Was their midfield as shit as ours? Mind you, Lop also brought in Guido and Soler who were also both just bad in our setup. Neither even made themselves first choice. You could tell from watching even the first game against Villa there were big alarms going off in most of us in terms of the personnel and the system. It only went downhill from there really.  

[southbankbornnbred]

Genuinely, I'd like to see our scouting report on Kilman. Just to know which parts of the assessment West Ham thought merited paying £40m for.

Although, Loopy probably didn't even bother to "scout" him, having managed him at Wolves.

[southbankbornnbred]

Mavrapanos is the strongest CB aerially by far and actually had been “rickettt free” towards the end of last season. Currently I’d drop Kilman not Aguerd for him but his £40 million price tag makes him untouchable it seems?  

We need to get those 2, not 1, midfielders in asap but Sullivan in charge of negotiations? It simply wint happen quickly if at all unless via some agent he knows.  He will quibble over a couple of million fee or agent fees or payment terms. Always lookimg to get one over the seller to boost his small man psychological disorder. 

Changing manager wont make a difference without central midfield being fixed. Although ironically the CBs cost us the game Saturday with the first 2 goals.  Would have to look at them again to know if “legs” in midfield would have stopped the Sunderland build ups that led to the goals?  

Sullivan will come up short even if we get players in they wont be the Potter / Macaulay choices.

Only 2 players so far are ( Diouf and Hermansen) .

 

 

It's an atrocious state of affairs, isn't it?

Despite spending £40m on Kilman (comfortably the worst £40m+ footballer I've ever seen), £30m on Aguerd, £33m on Todibo and £20m on Mavrapanos, we don't have a single reliable centre half among them. Almost £125m on four players, and somebody like Dawson was significantly more reliable than all of them.

I actually think that there's a real player in Todibo somewhere. He clearly has fitness issues, and I have no idea about his attitude (heard some question his commitment etc). But he has talent that can be nurtured by the right coach (there's a clue). Aguerd is uncomfortable with the Premier League's intensity and physicality, I feel. It looks like he doesn't want to be here and would happily have left over the summer if the right bid had come in. Mavrapanos is still just so raw and unreliable for a 27 year-old. Again, there was a player in there somewhere a few years ago, but his moment is passing quickly. He's powerful, has good athleticism, can (sometimes) dominate in the air. But he reads the game like a child and is so prone to lapses in concentration that it is a joke.

The less said about Kilman the better. A complete waste of money by Lopetegui and we are going to be stuck with him for years. He wants to do well, you can see. I don't question his attitude, and he's a battler. But he just doesn't have top-level ability. He's slow, he reacts poorly to threats as they play out, he's leaden-footed and can't really jump (worrying for a centre half) and he does not dominate Premier League strikers. Any half-paced striker takes five meters off of him over just 20 meters. Honestly, he would be comfortable at a club like Q.P.R. mid-table in the Championship. He's not a player who can thrive in the top-half of the Premier League. Unfortunately, he's on top-half Premier League wages - for a long time. Because we are such a stupid club when it comes to deals.

What does £123m really buy you if, as a club, you don't really know what you're doing?

[El Scorchio]

We need to get those 2, not 1, midfielders in asap but Sullivan in charge of negotiations? It simply wint happen quickly if at all unless via some agent he knows.  He will quibble over a couple of million fee or agent fees or payment terms. Always lookimg to get one over the seller to boost his small man psychological disorder. 


 

 

 

Exactly. He'd rather keep 2 million or something insignificant in the grand scheme of things in his pocket and not get the right player for the team and manager for 30 million quid, then go and spend 15 on the wrong player for the team and manager.

The Hermansen deal probably hasn't helped us bigger picture, seen as he'll have loved that Leicester caved and will assume that sooner or later Southampton will cave over Fernandes or someone else over their player- like he did for Kudus. Not everyone is desperate like him. When you're desperate and tell the world you're desperate, guess what, you get taken advantage of. It's plain to see we're now desperate and any selling club will hold all the cards. The question is whether he'll just suck it up and pay what it takes or just cut his nose off to spite his face, do nothing and gamble we finish 17th potentially saving a few million quid if it pays off, but costing himself probably hundreds of millions if it doesn't. It absolutely mental, but I almost believe he's that proud he'd rather just take the club down while convincing himself there was nothing he could have done and it's all other people's fault rather than his that the club got into this position, than get mugged off in a transfer deal. Not even so much as mugged off, just get the thin end of it. 

[Massive Attack]

Mavrapanos is the strongest CB aerially by far and actually had been “rickettt free” towards the end of last season. Currently I’d drop Kilman not Aguerd for him but his £40 million price tag makes him untouchable it seems?  



 

After the infamous "If you want me to swear, I can swear" game against Brighton when we shipped in 3 goals, he dropped him out the Team for Cresswell in the back 3 and we actually performed alright defensively from then on overall. He returned in the starting line-up for the last game against already relegated Ipswich. 

[Sir Alf]

Mavrapanos is the strongest CB aerially by far and actually had been “rickettt free” towards the end of last season. Currently I’d drop Kilman not Aguerd for him but his £40 million price tag makes him untouchable it seems?  

We need to get those 2, not 1, midfielders in asap but Sullivan in charge of negotiations? It simply wint happen quickly if at all unless via some agent he knows.  He will quibble over a couple of million fee or agent fees or payment terms. Always lookimg to get one over the seller to boost his small man psychological disorder. 

Changing manager wont make a difference without central midfield being fixed. Although ironically the CBs cost us the game Saturday with the first 2 goals.  Would have to look at them again to know if “legs” in midfield would have stopped the Sunderland build ups that led to the goals?  

Sullivan will come up short even if we get players in they wont be the Potter / Macaulay choices.

Only 2 players so far are ( Diouf and Hermansen) .

[Huffers]

He'd go through the wrong brick wall, though.