Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2025

[jayffc]

Our academy, as brilliant as is, produces around one PL-quality player every 2-3 years. Nothing wrong with that, but our success in signing and nurturing under 16s will never compensate for effective scouting of the 17-22 (aporox) range which is where we fall down. As a consequence we have the lowest value squad in the league outside of the relegated clubs (per Transfermarkt).

Just seen a post that claims "97% of former cat 1 academy players now aged 21 to 26 never made an EPL
appearance.

70% weren't handed a pro contract at an EPL or EFL club. And only 1 in 10 went on to make more than 20 league appearances in the top four tiers of English football."

I can't really verify the quality of the source (it was mentioned in a Football Away Days post) but if true it does underline the quality of our academy's output with Sess, Roberts, Fabio, Elliott, Stansfield (who we scouted and poached from Exeter don't forget) all having made the grade somewhere in professional football over the last few years.

+
Rodak
Dan Burn
Betinelli
Matt O'Riley
Woodrow
Dembele MK2

To name more who've made respectable careers for themselves both in championship and above

[Tabby]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

[C Block]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

The best opposition player I've personally seen this season, crazy to say this but £45 million is an absolute bargain,
When the footballing world is raving about him a year from now Bournemouth won't get a mention it'll all be down to Liverpool or Manchester City.

[JimmyConway]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

The best opposition player I've personally seen this season, crazy to say this but £45 million is an absolute bargain,
When the footballing world is raving about him a year from now Bournemouth won't get a mention it'll all be down to Liverpool or Manchester City.

I personally think he is very easy on the eye and composed with ball at his feet. What he is not is outstanding as an defender. For me and this is not biased I would go Robinson over him all the time. On the bases that even know Antonee is nowhere near as easy on the eye as a left back he is far better defensively and I would want a left back who can defend first.
Robinson's all round game outweighs Kerkez composure in my books but defending does not seem to be as important in today's game.

[Jim©]

IMO Bournemouth along with Palace are far better at picking up lower league talent than us.
BHA, Brentford, Forest and Villa have vastly outdone us on picking up bargains.

I don't think you can say that Forest have picked up many bargains at all- there's one or two signings that classify as that, the scatter gun approach nearly saw them go down (and Villa if it wasn't for a dodgy VAR call v Sheff U).

Brentford had a really good spell of signings about 5 or 6 years ago (Mbeumo, Norgard, Toney, Wissa), but value isn't their thing the last 4 or 5 years IMO. Collins- £27m, Lewis Potter £19m, Schade £30m, Igor £33m, Van Den Berg £24m, Carvalho £24m. I see £150m of not a lot of much there.

I look at the Fulham squad and see good value in loads of players- Lukic £8m, Tete £3m, Leno £6m, Robinson £1.9m, Raul even at £5m, Traore free, wilson £10m, Pereira £9m etc. Trick now is to find some younger players to move the club forward both on and off the pitch.

[Angus Telford]

Our academy, as brilliant as is, produces around one PL-quality player every 2-3 years. Nothing wrong with that, but our success in signing and nurturing under 16s will never compensate for effective scouting of the 17-22 (aporox) range which is where we fall down. As a consequence we have the lowest value squad in the league outside of the relegated clubs (per Transfermarkt).

Just seen a post that claims "97% of former cat 1 academy players now aged 21 to 26 never made an EPL
appearance.

70% weren't handed a pro contract at an EPL or EFL club. And only 1 in 10 went on to make more than 20 league appearances in the top four tiers of English football."

I can't really verify the quality of the source (it was mentioned in a Football Away Days post) but if true it does underline the quality of our academy's output with Sess, Roberts, Fabio, Elliott, Stansfield (who we scouted and poached from Exeter don't forget) all having made the grade somewhere in professional football over the last few years.

Fair point. I don't think anyone is criticising the academy, it's a red herring mentioned by another poster. No academy is going to compensate for scouting young potential which peer clubs rely on far more, hence despite having a great academy we've one of the oldest, lowest value squads in the PL, something that will catch up with us in the medium term if we don't fix it, as other clubs leverage the value they have in the likes of Huijson.

[Angus Telford]

value isn't their thing the last 4 or 5 years IMO. Collins- £27m, Lewis Potter £19m, Schade £30m, Igor £33m, Van Den Berg £24m, Carvalho £24m. I see £150m of not a lot of much there.

They're certainly not down on that lot in terms of current value. They could double their money on Schade for a start.

[Tabby]

Us and Palace being linked with Nadiem Amiri. Mooted fee somewhere between €18-20 million.

https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artikel/amiri-abschied-bei-mainz-05-weiter-moeglich/13371020/34943

I assume it would be a brilliant move if he signs for Palace but a lazy signing of an older player with little resale value if he signs for us.

[Deeping_white]

https://twitter.com/fulhamtransfer/status/1924748690884886659

[SerbianLad]

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1924812246758166948
It will probably be an unpopular opinion here, due to his age and some other factors, but I would actually take him. Ideal rotation option for Berge and Lukic and an upgrade on Reed.

If both TC and Andreas stay, I think we'll have enough midfield options. I'd let Reed go somewhere where he can get more game time. He's been a great servant, but I think it's time to part ways with him.

[Deeping_white]

https://twitter.com/fulhamtransfer/status/1924864258455613490

[Bassey the warrior]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

The best opposition player I've personally seen this season, crazy to say this but £45 million is an absolute bargain,
When the footballing world is raving about him a year from now Bournemouth won't get a mention it'll all be down to Liverpool or Manchester City.

I personally think he is very easy on the eye and composed with ball at his feet. What he is not is outstanding as an defender. For me and this is not biased I would go Robinson over him all the time. On the bases that even know Antonee is nowhere near as easy on the eye as a left back he is far better defensively and I would want a left back who can defend first.
Robinson's all round game outweighs Kerkez composure in my books but defending does not seem to be as important in today's game.

Robinson wasn't great at defending when he signed for us, that can be coached.

[demeant0r]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

The best opposition player I've personally seen this season, crazy to say this but £45 million is an absolute bargain,
When the footballing world is raving about him a year from now Bournemouth won't get a mention it'll all be down to Liverpool or Manchester City.

I personally think he is very easy on the eye and composed with ball at his feet. What he is not is outstanding as an defender. For me and this is not biased I would go Robinson over him all the time. On the bases that even know Antonee is nowhere near as easy on the eye as a left back he is far better defensively and I would want a left back who can defend first.
Robinson's all round game outweighs Kerkez composure in my books but defending does not seem to be as important in today's game.

Robinson wasn't great at defending when he signed for us, that can be coached.

He wasn't good at crossing either so was he any good? He was and is miles better at defending than crossing (with the exception of this season where he's good at both).

[JimmyConway]

Kerkez being linked to City now.

https://x.com/msidouglas/status/1924775292490412367?s=46

The best opposition player I've personally seen this season, crazy to say this but £45 million is an absolute bargain,
When the footballing world is raving about him a year from now Bournemouth won't get a mention it'll all be down to Liverpool or Manchester City.

I personally think he is very easy on the eye and composed with ball at his feet. What he is not is outstanding as an defender. For me and this is not biased I would go Robinson over him all the time. On the bases that even know Antonee is nowhere near as easy on the eye as a left back he is far better defensively and I would want a left back who can defend first.
Robinson's all round game outweighs Kerkez composure in my books but defending does not seem to be as important in today's game.

Robinson wasn't great at defending when he signed for us, that can be coached.

Perhaps so just goes to show how far his come.

[jayffc]

Us and Palace being linked with Nadiem Amiri. Mooted fee somewhere between €18-20 million.

https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artikel/amiri-abschied-bei-mainz-05-weiter-moeglich/13371020/34943

I assume it would be a brilliant move if he signs for Palace but a lazy signing of an older player with little resale value if he signs for us.

Had a very good season in bundesliga by all reports

If Cairney/AP were to move on then looks a decent replacement. Younger than Tom at least and remember we already have ESR and King coming through in terms of youth in that position

[Bal_13]

Our academy, as brilliant as is, produces around one PL-quality player every 2-3 years. Nothing wrong with that, but our success in signing and nurturing under 16s will never compensate for effective scouting of the 17-22 (aporox) range which is where we fall down. As a consequence we have the lowest value squad in the league outside of the relegated clubs (per Transfermarkt).

Just seen a post that claims "97% of former cat 1 academy players now aged 21 to 26 never made an EPL
appearance.

70% weren't handed a pro contract at an EPL or EFL club. And only 1 in 10 went on to make more than 20 league appearances in the top four tiers of English football."

I can't really verify the quality of the source (it was mentioned in a Football Away Days post) but if true it does underline the quality of our academy's output with Sess, Roberts, Fabio, Elliott, Stansfield (who we scouted and poached from Exeter don't forget) all having made the grade somewhere in professional football over the last few years.

Fair point. I don't think anyone is criticising the academy, it's a red herring mentioned by another poster. No academy is going to compensate for scouting young potential which peer clubs rely on far more, hence despite having a great academy we've one of the oldest, lowest value squads in the PL, something that will catch up with us in the medium term if we don't fix it, as other clubs leverage the value they have in the likes of Huijson.
[/]

Fair enough Bournemouth have made a killing on Huijsen (over a mill a game)

But totting up just the academy players I mentioned:

Carvalho - £5mill
Roberts - undisclosed but believed to be around £12 mill according to sky at the time
Sess - £25 mill to Spurs (and we got him back on a free and he's made c. 140 first team appearances for us)
Elliott - £1.8 mill + £2.5 mill in bonuses
Stansfield - £15 mill upfront + £5 mill in add-ons

We've made about £70+ mill and I'm not even counting those Jay has added to the initial list.

I hear your point on our squad age and value but we've made plenty of pure profit out of youth without them really impacting our first team at all (outside of Sess + Fabio for one year). And the reality is most of world football has woken up to the Premier League's stupid economic disparity - a reason I think clubs like Brentford and Brighton (darlings of the media for having the best scouting networks in England) are regularly paying fees in the £20-35 mill range on individual players over the last few years. The reality is the Huijsen's are getting rarer for everyone. Which reinforces how our academy isn't so much a red herring but another way of a club our size finding value in a tough market.

Our bigger issue is not tying youth down to big contracts (outside of Sess) before selling / not always having our young players thrive with us, rather than necessarily finding diamonds in the rough elsewhere



 

[Angus Telford]

Fair enough Bournemouth have made a killing on Huijsen (over a mill a game)

But totting up just the academy players I mentioned:

Carvalho - £5mill
Roberts - undisclosed but believed to be around £12 mill according to sky at the time
Sess - £25 mill to Spurs (and we got him back on a free and he's made c. 140 first team appearances for us)
Elliott - £1.8 mill + £2.5 mill in bonuses
Stansfield - £15 mill upfront + £5 mill in add-ons

We've made about £70+ mill and I'm not even counting those Jay has added to the initial list.

I hear your point on our squad age and value but we've made plenty of pure profit out of youth without them really impacting our first team at all (outside of Sess + Fabio for one year). And the reality is most of world football has woken up to the Premier League's stupid economic disparity - a reason I think clubs like Brentford and Brighton (darlings of the media for having the best scouting networks in England) are regularly paying fees in the £20-35 mill range on individual players over the last few years. The reality is the Huijsen's are getting rarer for everyone. Which reinforces how our academy isn't so much a red herring but another way of a club our size finding value in a tough market.

Our bigger issue is not tying youth down to big contracts (outside of Sess) before selling / not always having our young players thrive with us, rather than necessarily finding diamonds in the rough elsewhere

As of today's date, Brentford, Brighton, Palace and Bournemouth have on average 12 players each under the age of 24 that they used in a PL game this season. We have 3, if you include Stansfield (plus King and Godo). So it's a much bigger gap than could be attributed to us not having retained Carvalho and Elliott, especially if you consider those clubs will also have had some of their own academy players leave/poached, just like us.

Similarly on the financial side, you've identified £60m in sales over 10 years, which is enough to justify the academy, sure, great, but a lot less than the profit those clubs have made on players they've developed over that period (Huijsen, Toney, Watkins, Caicedo, Macallister, Olise...et al)

[Bal_13]

Fair enough Bournemouth have made a killing on Huijsen (over a mill a game)

But totting up just the academy players I mentioned:

Carvalho - £5mill
Roberts - undisclosed but believed to be around £12 mill according to sky at the time
Sess - £25 mill to Spurs (and we got him back on a free and he's made c. 140 first team appearances for us)
Elliott - £1.8 mill + £2.5 mill in bonuses
Stansfield - £15 mill upfront + £5 mill in add-ons

We've made about £70+ mill and I'm not even counting those Jay has added to the initial list.

I hear your point on our squad age and value but we've made plenty of pure profit out of youth without them really impacting our first team at all (outside of Sess + Fabio for one year). And the reality is most of world football has woken up to the Premier League's stupid economic disparity - a reason I think clubs like Brentford and Brighton (darlings of the media for having the best scouting networks in England) are regularly paying fees in the £20-35 mill range on individual players over the last few years. The reality is the Huijsen's are getting rarer for everyone. Which reinforces how our academy isn't so much a red herring but another way of a club our size finding value in a tough market.

Our bigger issue is not tying youth down to big contracts (outside of Sess) before selling / not always having our young players thrive with us, rather than necessarily finding diamonds in the rough elsewhere

As of today's date, Brentford, Brighton, Palace and Bournemouth have on average 12 players each under the age of 24 that they used in a PL game this season. We have 3, if you include Stansfield (plus King and Godo). So it's a much bigger gap than could be attributed to us not having retained Carvalho and Elliott, especially if you consider those clubs will also have had some of their own academy players leave/poached, just like us.

Similarly on the financial side, you've identified £60m in sales over 10 years, which is enough to justify the academy, sure, great, but a lot less than the profit those clubs have made on players they've developed over that period (Huijsen, Toney, Watkins, Caicedo, Macallister, Olise...et al)

Fair enough. I'm certainly not arguing against the fact we have one of the older squads in the league. Just wanted to at least point out that we're not utterly allergic to having some relative success with youth (but I do concede we could do a lot better financially with it).

That said, I'm sure we'll be doing as you and other posters have suggested and investing in some relative youth. I'll be surprised if we're looking for a Huijsen profile however. I suspect our policy will be closer to another set of ESR / Sess age profile signings...

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

The two (recent) sides of the coin are for me are the post-Woy "ageing squad" decline, and also the 2018/19 Jokanovic fiscal incontinence debacle.

It's got to be really, really difficult to build an effective PL squad with a low average age. If a player is young and known to be effective at PL level, he's going to cost a fortune. Anything else is "too old" or necessarily a gamble (which can go wrong, see: 2018/19).

Almost can't blame them for picking experience, given the financial importance of not being relegated.

[ffc73]

" but Palace's FA Cup win and qualification for Europe might make the Eagles a more attractive proposition."

Could also read Forest but I wonder how many times we'll read this over the summer.