Football 2026-27

[Ben7amin_]

Plus now released there is no way of Yves Bissouma finding his way back into the first team. 

 

sh*t couple of days to be Pape Sarr though. 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, balti-pie said:

 (so naturally he'll suffer a double compound fracture in the second game of the season, and we wont ever see him again)

Tbf Spurs' second match of the season is against Newcastle so would be a strange way for that to happen. 

 

3 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

£92.5m rising to £100m with CL qualification feels like big money for a player with 1 good season behind him. He wasn't great this year albeit I was putting that more on a difficult birth for his baby than not trying like some Newc fans.

 

Trying not to be bitter about it, it's clear his partner never settled in Newcastle, and I don't think he really downed tools. It's a good fee and while his agent has clearly been shopping him about for a while, I don't think he's been sh*tty to the club.

 

It's just the fact it's to f**king consecutive 17th finish Spurs....

I'm definitely less sentimental about it as I get older - players come and go. But certainly, the fact Isak going feels like the start of a disintegration is hanging over things a little. That one felt more key though given in 24/25, our tactics relied on him to score goals. Gordon and Tonali both blew hot and cold last season so objectively £150mil+ for the pair of them or whatever we got isn't dreadful business. Plus the implication that Spurs are spending freely while Villa's reward for three successive top 6 finishes is fines and Uefa essentially getting a say in what they can do is just truly strange. 

 

As for us, this is the very least a question not so much on whether we cash in on key players so much as whether we trust our new recruitment structure to do better at replacing the departures than we did a year ago. Jury's out until we see them all on grass tbf. 

[kaosmark2]

10 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Tbf Spurs' second match of the season is against Newcastle so would be a strange way for that to happen. 

 

I'm definitely less sentimental about it as I get older - players come and go. But certainly, the fact Isak going feels like the start of a disintegration is hanging over things a little. That one felt more key though given in 24/25, our tactics relied on him to score goals. Gordon and Tonali both blew hot and cold last season so objectively £150mil+ for the pair of them or whatever we got isn't dreadful business. Plus the implication that Spurs are spending freely while Villa's reward for three successive top 6 finishes is fines and Uefa essentially getting a say in what they can do is just truly strange. 

 

As for us, this is the very least a question not so much on whether we cash in on key players so much as whether we trust our new recruitment structure to do better at replacing the departures than we did a year ago. Jury's out until we see them all on grass tbf. 

I think Bruno would hurt, anyone else except maybe Miley it's hard to be too sentimental about. Gordon I do give full respect for how he left and Barca is clearly a great move to get. Tonali's just annoying because of how much PSR is protecting the Sky 6 over us and Villa.

 

The signings local journos are reporting are close to doing are quite exciting, albeit there's the classic fear around Landlord FC gazumping us.

[charlierc]

35 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think Bruno would hurt, anyone else except maybe Miley it's hard to be too sentimental about. Gordon I do give full respect for how he left and Barca is clearly a great move to get. Tonali's just annoying because of how much PSR is protecting the Sky 6 over us and Villa.

 

The signings local journos are reporting are close to doing are quite exciting, albeit there's the classic fear around Landlord FC gazumping us.

Oh totally, Bruno is the painful exit if it were to happen. Especially given he's having a pretty decent World Cup so I'm guessing that's not helping with the wolves at the door. But we'll see if Arsenal make an offer that's better than the strangely small one allegedly offered. Miley would feel like another Anderson if he left, if arguably moreso given he's actually played a decent amount for us and Anderson hadn't before his move to Nottingham. 

 

Tbf I struggle to believe transfers are done until the player is pictured in the new shirt. 

 

It's quite something as well we start this season off with Liverpool. Talk about pick your target to boo. 

[kaosmark2]

12 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Oh totally, Bruno is the painful exit if it were to happen. Especially given he's having a pretty decent World Cup so I'm guessing that's not helping with the wolves at the door. But we'll see if Arsenal make an offer that's better than the strangely small one allegedly offered. Miley would feel like another Anderson if he left, if arguably moreso given he's actually played a decent amount for us and Anderson hadn't before his move to Nottingham. 

 

Tbf I struggle to believe transfers are done until the player is pictured in the new shirt. 

 

It's quite something as well we start this season off with Liverpool. Talk about pick your target to boo. 

Most boos have to be the rat surely? Plenty that'll get a bit of it but the rat above all.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

Most boos have to be the rat surely? Plenty that'll get a bit of it but the rat above all.

True. Tbf I think Ekiteke could get some had he been fit, given he was pretty spiky after the match at Anfield earlier this year but I'm pretty sure he's out for most of the rest of this year. 

 

But yeah. I'm expecting Isak to get something akin to the welcome we gave Michael Owen in 2011. Like break the pitchside mic loud. 

[kaosmark2]

With Bazoumana Toure having been photo'd touring SJP I'm now officially at the "I will be genuinely upset if we get gazumped" stage. Show him holding up the shirt!

 

Really exciting if it comes through, I've been saying for 18months one of our problems is having 4 right-footed wingers to make our play more 1-D even if they swap flanks for a few moves/minutes. Left-footed, looks rapid, good cross on him. I'd seen a bit of him and Diomande interchanging for Ivory Coast this tourney before the move was mooted and seemed good.

 

If he and Elanga can be swapping flanks with crosses and shots from their world cup form that's seriously exciting, particularly if we see the Wissa of Brentford/WC as opposed to of last season.

 

 

On the flip side, I have very little belief we're going to get Manzambi over the line. Reports of fee agreed with Freiberg but he doesn't want to talk until after Switzerland have finished their WC campaign - which is completely fair from his perspective, but based on that run and assist in Switzerland's last match, more interest will keep coming in. Still, at least we don't seem to be competing in the exact same market as certain other clubs to be stopped on almost all our targets. 

[kaosmark2]

@charlierc Bazou Toure confirmed today. I'm pretty excited by it (see above)

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

@charlierc Bazou Toure confirmed today. I'm pretty excited by it (see above)

Well we can be happy that Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd or someone didn't try to hijack it at the last minute. Keeping my fingers crossed it lives up to the hype. 

 

I've seen journos on the Newcastle beat say we now also want at least 4 extra signings - keeper, full back, Tonali replacement and potentially an extra attacker. With just over a month to the season start, could be a busy one. 

[kaosmark2]

5 hours ago, charlierc said:

Well we can be happy that Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd or someone didn't try to hijack it at the last minute. Keeping my fingers crossed it lives up to the hype. 

 

I've seen journos on the Newcastle beat say we now also want at least 4 extra signings - keeper, full back, Tonali replacement and potentially an extra attacker. With just over a month to the season start, could be a busy one. 

I'm trying to interpret what the Manzambi links mean. He very much seems like an attacking midfielder, which.... I'm hoping means a shift in formation/style more than Bruno going? I'd argue our Tonali replacement should be a dedicated DM or at least a box-to-box, certainly not a 10-esque. Is Wolte going to go back to being a striker not a 10? Is Ramsey still considered a long-term high potential option? 

 

Right-back, keeper, and Tonali replacement all have obvious gaps in the team to fill. I love the idea of getting an extra flair player in, I'm just wondering if there's a sale being considered that's just waiting to get the replacement in first. Please please please not Bruno.

[Ben7amin_]

Great business by Spurs..

 

Getting 21.7 million for Dragusin....

 

Tonail thing is pretty good as-well To new central Mids. -  and neither of them apparently wanted to take the vacant number 8 shirt what is happening.. 

[kaosmark2]

3 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Great business by Spurs..

 

Getting 21.7 million for Dragusin....

 

Whose paying that???? He's awful! If you'd said £2.17m I'd have still said that's a rip off.

 

Makes the Tonali and Fernandes overpays seem less ridiculous.

[Ben7amin_]

5 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Whose paying that???? He's awful! If you'd said £2.17m I'd have still said that's a rip off.

 

Makes the Tonali and Fernandes overpays seem less ridiculous.

 

He has gone to Fiorentina -  Sold Velez aswlell -  those two plus Vuskovic add up to the roughly the same as Fernandes  transfer - so given the first few signings were pre 1st Jul so in last years FFP window -  we are now only out the Tonali transfer in this FFP window and still well within our limits .   People might balk at the fees paid - but we are killing it in this transfer window probably another one or 2 big signings to be made

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6 by Ben7amin_

[kaosmark2]

1 minute ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

He has gone to Fiorentina -  Sold Velez aswlell -  those two plus Vuskovic add up to the roughly the same as Fernandes  transfer - so given the first few signings were pre 1st Jul so in last years FFP window -  we are now only out the Tonali transfer in this FFP window and still well within our limits .   People might balk at the fees paid - but we are killing it in this transfer window probably another one or 2 big signings to be made

You signed Van Hecke for big money as well. I'd argue that Vuskovic + money for Van Hecke is probably a bad trade long-term but good immediately if money is no object.

[Ben7amin_]

18 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

You signed Van Hecke for big money as well. I'd argue that Vuskovic + money for Van Hecke is probably a bad trade long-term but good immediately if money is no object.

 

We do have a 20% sell on with Vuskovic slightly gutted as he looks like he might be class but im just not sure at Spurs he has a clear route into the first team - we clearly dont think he is ready now -   Which I guess we will only find out in time. Van Hecke wont impact this seasons spending as it was done early enough to be a last season deal, I think its a great signing especially has he will form a pairing with a player VDV who he already knows well.  

 

after last two seasons it makes sense that we shift to Immediate problem solving.   

 

 

Edited July 6 by Ben7amin_

[Livvy13]

42 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

Tonail thing is pretty good as-well To new central Mids. -  and neither of them apparently wanted to take the vacant number 8 shirt what is happening.. 

Gallagher's switched to number 8 so it's not available. 

[Ben7amin_]

38 minutes ago, Livvy13 said:

Gallagher's switched to number 8 so it's not available. 

 

Ahh that makes sense -   missed that -   I assume the now vacant number 3 shirt will soon be Robertsons 

[thetime]

So with utd been blown out of the water by spurs, not words I ever expected to say. 

 

Is this Santos from Chelsea any good, no idea even what type of player he is. 

[charlierc]

On 02/07/2026 at 15:39, kaosmark2 said:

I think Bruno would hurt, anyone else except maybe Miley it's hard to be too sentimental about. Gordon I do give full respect for how he left and Barca is clearly a great move to get. Tonali's just annoying because of how much PSR is protecting the Sky 6 over us and Villa.

Well there's a rumour doing the rounds of Bruno wanting out.

 

Which - I could see this summer seeing us lose 1 of Bruno, Tonali and Gordon but all 3 at the same time feels like a firesale. Certainly it's adding to the question marks of whether an accumulated bundle of errors by the owners since about 2023 are catching up with us.

[thetime]

44 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Well there's a rumour doing the rounds of Bruno wanting out.

 

Which - I could see this summer seeing us lose 1 of Bruno, Tonali and Gordon but all 3 at the same time feels like a firesale. Certainly it's adding to the question marks of whether an accumulated bundle of errors by the owners since about 2023 are catching up with us.

 

Bruno wants Arsenal, you can't blame him to be honest. 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Bruno wants Arsenal, you can't blame him to be honest. 

I'm perfectly aware there's pull factors of London, a big pay rise, a club that just won the PL and were a penalty shootout away from winning the Champions League and national team colleagues, plus push factors of the Toon stagnating, no European football next season and personal disappointment after his penalty miss played a part in Brazil crashing in the WC.

 

It's more the cumulative effect of losing 4 of our best players in a year, feeling the owners have really not been making good decisions recently or the question of whether it's impossible to compete with the Super League 6 long-term. I've seen similar irritation from Villa fans regarding the latter given UEFA have mandated they turn a profit this window.

 

This has potential to be a bit of a saga in any case - Arsenal have allegedly not made an actual bid yet, with a lot of this allegedly being driven by intermediaries, plus it appears Newcastle will want a bigger fee than what Arsenal seem to want to pay, which is understandable given our form when Bruno's not playing is genuinely awful. Would also question if Arsenal need him given they have a ton of CMs and, as I've heard from some of their fans, a greater need for wingers. But whatever.

Edited July 8 by charlierc

[Ben7amin_]

 

[charlierc]

On 08/07/2026 at 18:30, thetime said:

So with utd been blown out of the water by spurs, not words I ever expected to say. 

 

Is this Santos from Chelsea any good, no idea even what type of player he is. 

What actually are the expectations at Man Utd this window? I feel like I've heard that money is tight, if for different reasons than the likes of Villa where UEFA are saying "No" to all their signings.

[charlierc]

Can't lie - I have never heard of the Steur kid that Newcastle signed from Ajax yesterday. Though given he was already making a high quantity of appearances for Ajax as a teenager, that's usually a sign of decent promise.

 

More excitement is if we can get the deal wrapped up for Manzambi given his decent form for Switzerland stateside. Even if there's that residual anxiety it might get hijacked as has already happened with Liverpool swooping in to do our planned signing of Munoz for us. How courteous of them indeed.

[charlierc]

2 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

I take it that last year's sample didn't exactly make him an enticing purchase huh.

 

Maybe if you're lucky Juventus will get it done and you'll just move on to someone who'll fit your system better.