🌞Summer Silly Season Transfer thread 2026

[AJW48361]

Any truth in Justin Kluivert coming in on loan with obligation to buy for £10m (Italian media sources)?

AA giving Bobb competition and having Zepa up his sleeve as a wild card?

Got a dislike i admit with Kluivert with  our history against Boscombe he always appears to behave like a little ****.

[Finnans Right Peg]

Maybe we could do a deal with Everton for Tete and we get Jake O Brien

[Bobsffc]

Everton enquired about Castagne and we turned them down, maybe they came back with a bigger offer and Fulham have said they would sell if they get a replacement but asked Everton to keep it quiet. We sign Ratiu 25m on a five year contract which amoratises to 5m this year and sell Castagne for 15m. That gives us 10m and lower wages in the pot towards a RCB. 

I think that could be very close to what's going on

[jayffc]

Everton enquired about Castagne and we turned them down, maybe they came back with a bigger offer and Fulham have said they would sell if they get a replacement but asked Everton to keep it quiet. We sign Ratiu 25m on a five year contract which amoratises to 5m this year and sell Castagne for 15m. That gives us 10m and lower wages in the pot towards a RCB. 

I think that could be very close to what's going on

I suspect we're more likely to sell Tete than Castagne tbh. Timmy's been the first choice since Arbeloa joined, is more suited to our attacking system and is less of an injury risk historically speaking. Last I heard we flat out said Castagne wasn't for sale.

[jayffc]

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/2093666773698539880

Matsima replacement inbound at Augsburg? 👀
Juma Bah who we were loosely linked to once - albeit somewhat in passing, is heading there - which you'd think potentially leaves the door open for his exit. Both RCBs

[sarnian]

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/2093666773698539880

Matsima replacement inbound at Augsburg? 👀
Juma Bah who we were loosely linked to once - albeit somewhat in passing, is heading there - which you'd think potentially leaves the door open for his exit. Both RCBs

Looking at the number of games he has played doesn't look like a consistent starter. Why therefore are we looking at him?

[Jims Dentist]

We lost a lot off offensive output. 21 Goals and 11 assists just with Wilson and Jimenez.

That's a lot of pressure for our existing squad.

You have to temper that against if they weren't playing and others were would those 21 goals not have been scored?

So that stat is nothing remotely true. Unless we're lined up with 9 players.

Put that way it gives a false view

It assumes that another player in the same situation would not have scored
It assumes that another player would not have scored from the penalty spot last season

It would also be just as useful if 4 players scored 5/6 goals - which is a more manageable number

As it is TK has brought in Gonzalo García, who the betting market suggests will be taking the penalties.
His odd on being our top scorer are 13/8 and he looks to have made a good start

He certainly looks the real things and a good buy by TK

I doubt TK would have even
 heard of Garcia. All he did is sign the cheque.
Garcia and Palacios came to us at the instigation of AA.

You don't think TK was aware of the golden boot winner from the world club championship? Or that these players don't feature anywhere on our stats system?

I know some love to discredit TK here, but saw someone else say this and it's true imo...
TK interviewed and chose Arbeloa, hiring him as manager. Part of this decision (as mentioned directly by TK) will have been based on the manager's network and personal ability to bring in these very players. Given we discussed during that process of picking Arbeloa as our manager - what targets he would want, and how he'd like to shape the team.

Given it was 1 of the factors involved in the decision to bring him here in the first place. It would be reasonable therefore, if it works out for signings like Garcia and palacios, to extend credit to the board too,  for the decision to hire a manager that could attract those talents, that otherwise might not have been interested in coming here. Plenty raised reasonable questions of the decision to hire Arbeloa after all.

It's ok to accept he had a key part to play in these players now being at fulham, whilst also understanding that Arbeloa is the main reason they were happy to join the club once he was appointed by the Khans. 2 things can be true at once.

For me you're giving TK too much creditability.
Living on the other side of the Atlantic and being so heavily involved in his other two sporting roles, he was passive while MS strung the club along while waiting for the right offer to come.
When Marco finally left TK admitted it came as a surprise to him.
Time was running out, Thomas Frank had ruled himself out of the running, McKenna preferred a sabbatical so time was limited to make an appointment.
Quite likely recruiting Real Madrid youngsters was mentioned at AA's interview(s).
However, that does not substantiate  the original quote "He really looks like the real thing and a good buy by Tk".

[jayffc]

Don't think I am at all, we don't know the internal discussion between club and Silva. Sounds like they literally had speeches prepped to announce his extension with the media team, which suggests he had indicated to them he was likely to stay. Neither of us are privvy to those conversations to have a better understanding of the state of play internally and what was and wasn't said - certainly not more so than those directly involved. You also make it sound like we had only one option and that was Arbeloa. This wasn't the case from my understanding but we were always impressed with Arbeloa from first meet

And given every window we hear from manager and TK about discussing various sessions watching tape with managers and preparing player lists of targets for them, as well as owning a stats company that runs analytics on all players,  I don't think it's at all a stretch to assume he's aware of alot of talent. He's spoken extensively on how much he loves this part of the job.

People run multiple businesses, in 2026 this is pretty common. Many forbes list execs working between multple things as advisors etc. perfectly well and efficiently.

Living in america has bugger all to do with ability to watch tape, meet with scouts, review analytics and assess targets. Literally all of which can and is done from a computer these days from anywhere in the world

Anyway it's always been a waste of time trying to convince people who've made their stance on it already on here. You disagree and that's fine

[WindyCity]

Never heard of Ratiu as I don't follow Spanish football but internet shows he's been strongly linked with Liverpool and Man City in the last couple windows. If that's the case, could he quite a coup for us.

Perhaps, but does feel a bit of a weird signing.. Kenny got two assists last games and Castagne has been looking goof so far in preseason and vs Chelsea too. We've got two solid older RB options. For me, with Ratiu being 28, I don't really get the point in outlawing upto €25m for a 28 Yr old when we've got two players of similar age and performing. Hector Fort was apparently rumoured to cost around €10m and was doing very well in la liga and much younger.  Ratiu feels like a good option don't get me wrong, but not a first option as it's not in keeping with the clubs stated transfer policy of bringing the squad age down. Feels like a move to do something instead of nothing to show we're being busy. But fundamentally if we sign him we're in the same place as we were, with a 28 Yr old player, nearing the later stages of his career and with little resale value, and disrupting a happy squad, for what? It's not a priority position for me.  We should be targeting a DM/CM, RW and RCB first. A much better use of time and money.

With you on this General.  Just looking at the 'age' thing, so far I've been very happy with our acquisitions so far and players we've been linked with (early 20's).  This one for a 28 year old does have me head scratching.  Never heard of this player, but he better be really good if we want to lay out that sort of financial commitment. 

[Wandsworthboy]

We lost a lot off offensive output. 21 Goals and 11 assists just with Wilson and Jimenez.

That's a lot of pressure for our existing squad.

You have to temper that against if they weren't playing and others were would those 21 goals not have been scored?

So that stat is nothing remotely true. Unless we're lined up with 9 players.

Put that way it gives a false view

It assumes that another player in the same situation would not have scored
It assumes that another player would not have scored from the penalty spot last season

It would also be just as useful if 4 players scored 5/6 goals - which is a more manageable number

As it is TK has brought in Gonzalo García, who the betting market suggests will be taking the penalties.
His odd on being our top scorer are 13/8 and he looks to have made a good start

He certainly looks the real things and a good buy by TK

I doubt TK would have even
 heard of Garcia. All he did is sign the cheque.
Garcia and Palacios came to us at the instigation of AA.

You don't think TK was aware of the golden boot winner from the world club championship? Or that these players don't feature anywhere on our stats system?

I know some love to discredit TK here, but saw someone else say this and it's true imo...
TK interviewed and chose Arbeloa, hiring him as manager. Part of this decision (as mentioned directly by TK) will have been based on the manager's network and personal ability to bring in these very players. Given we discussed during that process of picking Arbeloa as our manager - what targets he would want, and how he'd like to shape the team.

Given it was 1 of the factors involved in the decision to bring him here in the first place. It would be reasonable therefore, if it works out for signings like Garcia and palacios, to extend credit to the board too,  for the decision to hire a manager that could attract those talents, that otherwise might not have been interested in coming here. Plenty raised reasonable questions of the decision to hire Arbeloa after all.

It's ok to accept he had a key part to play in these players now being at fulham, whilst also understanding that Arbeloa is the main reason they were happy to join the club once he was appointed by the Khans. 2 things can be true at once.

For me you're giving TK too much creditability.
Living on the other side of the Atlantic and being so heavily involved in his other two sporting roles, he was passive while MS strung the club along while waiting for the right offer to come.
When Marco finally left TK admitted it came as a surprise to him.
Time was running out, Thomas Frank had ruled himself out of the running, McKenna preferred a sabbatical so time was limited to make an appointment.
Quite likely recruiting Real Madrid youngsters was mentioned at AA's interview(s).
However, that does not substantiate  the original quote "He really looks like the real thing and a good buy by Tk".

Hmmmm can't really see how TK has been passive when we've comfortably stayed up since promotion, acquiring players to get us there, acquired a seemingly positive young manager and players. It's impossible for any of us on this board to know how much involvement TK has and with all the technology available now its easier than ever to stay up to speed with events happening across the pond. I'm not saying he is perfect but I just can't seem to understand the tonking TK gets just because we don't hear from him. It's not like any of us know for a fact how involved or not involved he may be. Yes he is director of football operations but that's just a title and I'm sure the people below him concentrate on the football side of things.Being passive is not releasing the funds to buy certain players that the scouts and the board recommendand. TK has certainly done that.

[LC]

I just watched a few clips of Jimmy-Jay Morgan, he looks like a real talent, he just signed for West Brom. Might be one for us to look at in January.

I wonder how many scouts we have around the country looking at the lower leagues, I would like to see the club go for some of these guys, we don't seem to ever do that.

A few names come to mind when I think of players in the lower leagues that we either played against and people on this forum said we should look at or we were linked to: Lewis Dunk, Harry Maguire (played against us at Hull I believe), Jarrod Bowen, Jack Grealish. Realistically we could have got them all other than maybe Grealish.

[Arthur]

I really don't have time for the "oh they don't fit into AA's system" remarks either.

You don't? It was only two days ago you qualified criticism of AA in another thread with this reply:

My criticism is more about personnel matching the tactics, not the tactics themselves.

It's not clear how these remarks sit together.

[AnOldBrownie]

Ausburg signing a CB.

Chrislain Matsima incoming?   

If he comes in he strengthens the CB room.   Not sure if it's more than just bringing a Diop type player whose younger back into the squad.    Not a bad signing.

Also, X has us going after a RB target
https://x.com/FulhamTransfer/status/2093650787087859818
(Andrei Ratiu..good pace)

That would mean either Castagne or Tete is on their way out.

[ffcthereligion]

Tosin coming back?! 🤮

[jayffc]

Tosin coming back?! 🤮

Never happening , reckon that's just usual teamtalk rubbish

[AnOldBrownie]

So..Tete vs Castagne.

Assuming we know one of them would be the backup to Andrei (if he comes in)...who do you keep as a backup?

I'm team Tete as a backup.   

[howitis]

I hope not. o'Brien would be massively disappointing following done of the names we were earlier linked with.

[jayffc]

So..Tete vs Castagne.

Assuming we know one of them would be the backup to Andrei (if he comes in)...who do you keep as a backup?

I'm team Tete as a backup.   

Castagne, for all the reasons mentioned.

1. He's clearly Arbeloas favoured RB
2. He fits the way we want to play better than Tete as an attacking RB
3. Tete's injury record is sadly pretty abysmal at this point.
4. He's marginally faster than Tete, and pace out wide is key to what AA wants.

In previous years, under a different manager, Tete would be the easy and clear winner, but we haven't, by Timmy's own words in an interview, been playing a system that suits him best under Silva. That's changed now, and he has been given "license to kill", get forward and attack, which is much more his bag than Tete's. For that reason, it seems likely it's Kenny that would be moved on. Uliamtely though whichever it is if we bring one in, we'll know we have good depth there still.

[Chi_FFC]

4. He's marginally faster than Tete, and pace out wide is key to what AA wants.

I'd prefer keeping Castagne for a couple of reasons, but I think on the topic of pace it's the other way around.

[AnOldBrownie]

So..Tete vs Castagne.

Assuming we know one of them would be the backup to Andrei (if he comes in)...who do you keep as a backup?

I'm team Tete as a backup.   

Castagne, for all the reasons mentioned.

1. He's clearly Arbeloas favoured RB
2. He fits the way we want to play better than Tete as an attacking RB
3. Tete's injury record is sadly pretty abysmal at this point.
4. He's marginally faster than Tete, and pace out wide is key to what AA wants.

In previous years, under a different manager, Tete would be the easy and clear winner, but we haven't, by Timmy's own words in an interview, been playing a system that suits him best under Silva. That's changed now, and he has been given "license to kill", get forward and attack, which is much more his bag than Tete's. For that reason, it seems likely it's Kenny that would be moved on. Uliamtely though whichever it is if we bring one in, we'll know we have good depth there still.

While I agree with #3...I don't think we truly know who the preferred Arbeloa RB is...and I disagree that in any world Castagne is faster at recovery than Tete.  Maybe if Tete is carrying a knock...but I don't think Castagne has more pace.

I also think Tete when healthy is clearly the better defender.