🌞Summer Silly Season Transfer thread 2026

[@jolslover]

He had a good World Cup & a decent end to last season for us. You would have thought we are losing Baresi ?
He is a decent defender no more no less.

What have we won with him? Why has he never held down starting place consistently.

Good luck to him but don't see him leaving strengthening Ipswich.

How can you say it doesn't strengthen Ipswich? Ridiculous comment when there current CBs are Championship level.
He slots into CB there straight away and makes them a better team.

I would add I am not usually negative and am fed up with the streams of negativity I usually see on this form however I doubt we will sign a better CB than Diop especially not for 10m so for me it feels like we will be downgrading and I would have handled the situation differently

Whilst I agree that it definitely strengthens Ipswich's chances of staying up...

Have you watched any of the footage of Nwaiwu? Their fans absolutely love him, he came in and completely turned around Trabzonspor's defence last year. May take a moment to adjust...but I think this idea that there's no way he ends up better than Diop is fairly pessimistic...Issa has repeatedly failed to establish himself as first choice CB at Fulham...he had a decent showing at the WC after giving up on ever being called up for France...but it's not like he's making team of the tournament,
New guy may take some time to adjust but he does look every bit as physical and quicker than Issa. He's a bit of a beast physically.

The point of selling him for 10m is that it affects our books well this year, selling a guy who it seems likely to me wasn't that interested in signing a new contract (there have been grumbles about him being interested in a move away for a while) so possibly would have walked for 0 millions... so that we can recycle that cash towards replacing him with an exciting younger talent with potential significant resale value on half the wages.

Not sure how you can confidently say you would have handled it differently, without having extensively scouted Nwaiwu, or known if Issa looked willing to sign - or knowing how much he'd want if he would extend, and what the repercussions of not selling him would be on our accounts and ability to buy other players in this window... or if the new manager even wants him.


Fun additional fact - Nwaiwu has a significantlly better scoring record per 90
And despite being 7 years younger than Diop - already has more career assists than him.

Yeah I've seen good reviews from Trabzonspor fans but obviously it's a different level in Prem. Paying 25m for someone that has the potential to be great vs spending that money elsewhere and keeping an already solid Prem CB in the best form of his career. I think the reason he wanted to move away previously was down to a lack of playing time which I completely understand given his ability.

Agree to disagree on this one, I can see your argument but I am just giving my view.

[KJS]

Issa is in his final year so I'd we can get 10m its a good deal, people moaned when we lost Harry on a free because he wouldsign a contract so why go through the same situation with Issa??

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

Just to be clear, it's 10 million euros not pounds, so £8.5m.

[demeant0r]

Issa is in his final year so I'd we can get 10m its a good deal, people moaned when we lost Harry on a free because he wouldsign a contract so why go through the same situation with Issa??

We bought him for around £15m, so I'd like us to get closer to that. I'd be happy with £12.5m. And the rumoured fee is €10m not £10m.

[KJS]

€10M is a reasonable price for Issa in his final year of contract

[Twig]

Diop has served 4 of the 5 years of his contract. He cost us c.£15m and so £12m has been paid off through amortisation over the 4 years, leaving just £3m on the books. If we sell him for £8.5m then we are effectively £5.5m positive on the books.

If his rumoured £70k per week wages are true then he costs us c.£3.5m in wages per annum and if Nwaiwu signs on the rumoured £40k per week he would cost us c.£2m per annum. A saving of £1.5m per year.

Swopping Diop for a younger highly talented prospect who makes us a "profit" of £5.5m and saves us £1.5m per year in wages? That sounds like great business to me even before you factor in that we could potentially make a big profit when we eventually sell him.

[Willham]

Diop has served 4 of the 5 years of his contract. He cost us c.£15m and so £12m has been paid off through amortisation over the 4 years leaving just £3m on the books. If we sell him for £8.5m then we are effectively £5.5m positive on the books.

If his rumoured £70k per week wages are true then he costs us c.£3.5m in wages per annum and if Nwaiwu signs on the rumoured £40k per week he would cost us c.£2m per annum. A saving of £1.5m per year.

Swopping Diop for a younger highly talented prospect who makes us a "profit" of £5.5m and saves us £1.5m per year in wages? That sounds like great business to me even before you factor in that we could potentially make a big profit when we eventually sell him.

I can never fully understand all the gibberty goop of the finances in football, especially now it's changed again. So I have no way of knowing whether what you said is correct or factual.

But it sounds good, positive and well thought out so yeah, great!

[Bronaldinho]

Agree with the above few comments, Diop going probably signals Nwaiwu inbound.

Nwaiwu has only turned 22 and absolute monster physically - so good replacement.

[SerbianLad]

I'll miss Issa. One of my favourite players in the current squad and very underrated. I'd rather we sold Andersen, but this deal makes more sense for Issa. I'm sure he'd rather be a starter so I understand why he didn't want to renew probably, and if that was the case it's better to get something for him than nothing.

Let's hope his replacement is good.

[jayffc]

More grumbling random reports of Nwaiwu's club dragging heels trying to squeeze better terms out of the deal (more up front)
Theyre in a strong position with a long contract and having sold another player for big money already. So unsuprised they are playing hard ball here. Wonder if Issa moving on means they'll try their luck even more, but either way hopefully we tie this one up this month.

[Deuce]

Just to be clear, it's 10 million euros not pounds, so £8.5m.

Good bargain that. Barely makes it worth selling him tbh

But yeah, we have put ourselves in this position yet again. Sell players earlier or extend their contracts, how hard can it be for a DoF? Its not the first time.
Not that Id ever thought we'd make a profit off of Diop but getting a decent fee would have been nice.
But as someone mentioned: he is on 70k, had a good wc and his next contract is likely to be the contract in which he can get most money out of - which ideally is not at Fulham considering his age and position in the CB hierarchy.

So 8 mil is a shame, but if keeping him means giving him a pay rise then its a no for me

[KJS]

Just to be clear, it's 10 million euros not pounds, so £8.5m.

Good bargain that. Barely makes it worth selling him tbh

But yeah, we have put ourselves in this position yet again. Sell players earlier or extend their contracts, how hard can it be for a DoF? Its not the first time.
Not that Id ever thought we'd make a profit off of Diop but getting a decent fee would have been nice.
But as someone mentioned: he is on 70k, had a good wc and his next contract is likely to be the contract in which he can get most money out of - which ideally is not at Fulham considering his age and position in the CB hierarchy.

So 8 mil is a shame, but if keeping him means giving him a pay rise then its a no for me

Its not just the transfer fee its getting him of the wage bill to finance a replacement

[General]

€10M is a reasonable price for Issa in his final year of contract

a quarter finalist in the world cup where he was a key player, and an international with Morocco - He wasn't either of those when he signed with us, his value should've increased. I think he's worth more than 10m euros, even with 1 year left - he's only 29 after all

[jayffc]

€10M is a reasonable price for Issa in his final year of contract

a quarter finalist in the world cup where he was a key player, and an international with Morocco - He wasn't either of those when he signed with us, his value should've increased. I think he's worth more than 10m euros, even with 1 year left - he's only 29 after all

But when we signed him he was 4 years younger and not in the last year of his contract. He also could have been in the Morocco squad alot sooner but he was holding out for France, and he's still not number 1 choice premier league centre back for us after all this time.

At 29 and able to walk away free next year I can see why the price is where it is even if I agree I'd hoped for a little more than this. Reality is, if we could have got more for him, you'd think we would have been putting word out there with people who'd shown an interest before.

[Twig]

Diop has served 4 of the 5 years of his contract. He cost us c.£15m and so £12m has been paid off through amortisation over the 4 years leaving just £3m on the books. If we sell him for £8.5m then we are effectively £5.5m positive on the books.

If his rumoured £70k per week wages are true then he costs us c.£3.5m in wages per annum and if Nwaiwu signs on the rumoured £40k per week he would cost us c.£2m per annum. A saving of £1.5m per year.

Swopping Diop for a younger highly talented prospect who makes us a "profit" of £5.5m and saves us £1.5m per year in wages? That sounds like great business to me even before you factor in that we could potentially make a big profit when we eventually sell him.

I can never fully understand all the gibberty goop of the finances in football, especially now it's changed again. So I have no way of knowing whether what you said is correct or factual.

But it sounds good, positive and well thought out so yeah, great!

I'm pretty sure I'm about right. I may not have used all the precise technical terms but then I'm just trying to illustrate why this deal makes great financial sense. Of course we can only go on the transfer fees and wages that we read about but assuming they are roughly correct then I don't think I've made any mistakes in my calculations.

[junior white]

Is Nwaiwu coming, Trabzonspor have jus5 sold their other starting CB. Would they sell both of the starters, 8 th8nk they both where T the end of the season.

[JimOG]

I'll miss Issa. One of my favourite players in the current squad and very underrated. I'd rather we sold Andersen, but this deal makes more sense for Issa. I'm sure he'd rather be a starter so I understand why he didn't want to renew probably, and if that was the case it's better to get something for him than nothing.

Let's hope his replacement is good.

I understand Twigs et al's case for selling. Well argued. My slight concern is about the amount of change. We've lost Raul, Wilson now Diop. Whilst the young names being mentioned from Madrid and Trabz are exciting are we in danger of a) putting too many younsters in the squad who will take time to adapt to perhaps an inferior but more physical league & b) putting at risk the dressing room cohesion?

[jayffc]

Is Nwaiwu coming, Trabzonspor have jus5 sold their other starting CB. Would they sell both of the starters, 8 th8nk they both where T the end of the season.

If ya talking about Serdar Saatçı he was their sub CB not a starter. Only went for 500k to a smaller turkish team.

If ya thinking about Christ Inau Oulai he was their DM and a bit of a wonderkid. That deals meant they don't HAVE to give up Nwaiwu really - and seem keen to keep him. But the fact they are allegedly already looking at 3 other CB targets suggests it's likely happening

[jayffc]

I'll miss Issa. One of my favourite players in the current squad and very underrated. I'd rather we sold Andersen, but this deal makes more sense for Issa. I'm sure he'd rather be a starter so I understand why he didn't want to renew probably, and if that was the case it's better to get something for him than nothing.

Let's hope his replacement is good.

I understand Twigs et al's case for selling. Well argued. My slight concern is about the amount of change. We've lost Raul, Wilson now Diop. Whilst the young names being mentioned from Madrid and Trabz are exciting are we in danger of a) putting too many younsters in the squad who will take time to adapt to perhaps an inferior but more physical league & b) putting at risk the dressing room cohesion?

I hear ya, but not like we're short of experience even with those moves.
We still have one of the oldest and more experienced squads in the league.

Even if we swap out those 3 + say Reed and Castagne

Leno
Lecomte
Robinson
Sess
Tete
Anderson
Cairney
Bassey
Berge
Lukic
Iwobi
Muniz
ESR
Bobb

All have quite a alot of experience either at the top level and/or international experience too.

+ Kevin who was playing champs league football before he came here.

Adding Nwaiwu who's Nigerian, will fit right in with the Naija boys you'd think so doubt he struggles to adapt. Very physically dominant too on the pitch.

Then you have potentially 2 or 3 players from Madrid who will know eachother already and whom the manager clearly vouches for, and they have already had a taste of life under the pressure of some of the most expectant fans in the world.

Seems a pretty normal amount of turnover for me. + if we do add Norton Cuffey at RB then he's played with Josh King + he's a hale end boy so I'm sure the likes of Alex and Emile will look after him too as seems a bit of a shared bond amongst those guys.

[jayffc]

https://x.com/FulhamTransfer/status/2079249302644502874?s=20

Still interested in Balogun it seems