Summer Silly Season Transfer Thread 2025

[alfie]

Scouts do their job look at players and recommend or dismiss players, they just report back we don't necessarily see or know that side of it, it's then up to the recruitment team to decide whether to show an interest, or not.

I'm talking about what is actually happening in real life, not a hypothetical. Since promotion we have signed very few players who weren't already established premier league players. Last season the sole exception was Cuenca (and we even signed three former Fulham players).

Not sure what part of my comment was "hypothetical"

You're speculating about what the scouts may be doing. I'm talking about the results we've gotten. Since promotion it has been well known names who have fallen off a bit. This fits Jimenez, Traore, Nelson, Castagne, Pereira, Leno, Iwobi, Willian, James, ESR, Sess, Diop, Mbabu, Vinicius, Ballo-Touré, Bassey, Kurzawa, Duffy and Soares. Some of them are great signings, but it is a trend. Andersen, Solomon, Berge, Benda, Cuenca, Palhinha and Lukic are the only exceptions to the rule.

Maybe they are finding hidden gems all over the place but there sure is a paucity of them getting signed. Is this because Silva wants sure bets? Maybe. Is it because our scouts aren't actually finding talent? Maybe. The main point is that the trend since promotion is worrying me long term, and if our two signings for wingers are Sterling and Nelson that gets even more stark.

I know what you mean, but the scouts do exactly what I said, it's not their fault if the management are not interested, maybe the scouts have been told to look at established players and not youngsters, I think we are both correct on this.

[Angus Telford]

Am I going mad - and obviously I may be wrong - but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought there was a quote about us being " ambitious " in this window.
If some of the rumours are true  regarding Terami, Sterling etc then I am somewhat underwhelmed and if that is ' ambitious " then it's rather like wanting to go into a care home.

You called it perfectly about 15 pages back.

It seems absolutely plain to me that whilst the players or manager might say in press conferences that we're "aiming" for Europe, this isn't a realistic or serious aim at board/owner level.

At senior level we're doing the minimum we can just to stay in the PL for a 1-2 year time horizon. Whether SK is planning a sale, or just hoping the Riverside will eventually provide enough revenue to self-finance growth, I don't know - but it feels more and more like the last days of MAF.

[Twig]

P 168 not too far off now!

[FFC1987]

P 168 not too far off now!

Plenty more pages to moan about the same things though right! Even when people offered counters but hey! Let's continue minding, spamming the pages to that glorious target!

[demeant0r]

P 168 not too far off now!

I predicted it would be page 200 until our first signing so not far off

[DM]

been told that Fulham are confident Raheem Sterling will take a big pay cut to join them this summer.

DSTM

[FFC1987]

been told that Fulham are confident Raheem Sterling will take a big pay cut to join them this summer.

DSTM

Let's face it, it's the only way he'd be able to join us anyway....

[FFC1987]

Taken from the discord server but Bassey just tweeted a picture of our new goalkeeper and immediately deleted it. Good to know the squad are taking those rules seriously! 

[demeant0r]

been told that Fulham are confident Raheem Sterling will take a big pay cut to join them this summer.

DSTM

He's on 300k a week. He'd have to slash his wage by at least 200k to join us since we don't usually go above 100k.

If he performs anywhere near the level he did at City then he'd be a great signing but that's a big if.

[RAY Rock]

Sterling would be a pretty typical signing, but I don't think he would be a good one.

That's what people said about Willian before he signed the first time.. how about we let Marco make the judgement call?

Doesn't everyone trust Marco these days. I reckon Marco could be a great man manager for Sterling for what it's worth.

I don't blindly trust Silva. I would like there to be actual scouting from the scouts that the club employs finding talent for the first team and not just the u18s. When managers get to pick their own targets it often ends up being established players on the older side which is both short term and expensive. Some people were wondering why we have such a relatively high wage to turnover ratio, and that is the main culprit.

Sterling may do well, but what if we instead found a Mahrez, Olise, Mitoma, Eze, Mbuemo etc? A player that we find before they hit their peak would be nice instead of being the rehabilitation home for players that have stalled out their careers.

Can we count how many players of that ilk we've actually found/attracted in our history?

like bringing in a transfer for the first team who was unheard of and who developed into that star? Not an academy prospect we've honed for years...

Mitro maybe? Saha?.. Palhinha - does he count?

But realistically we've had very little success, or seemingly interest in finding those players.

Muniz may become one?

Dempsey, Robinson, Hangeland (wasn't exactly young, but neither was Mitoma when Brighton signed him), Dembele and Smalling jump to mind. Going back further we have Finnan I guess. But there is a long running issue when it comes to identifying promising players for the first team from more obscure leagues.

Dembele played at AZ Alkmar who were doing well in the eredivise at the time.. Robinson - fair. I still don't think Dempsey that was amazing for us tbh. He did have one good season, but he was hardly a star - He ditched us for spurs and didn't play much, and for much of the time he was with us he was a starter/sub and largely frustrating. He did have some stand out moments, which I think biases some peoples opinion and I get that, but I don't think at the time he was that popular.

Hangeland - could be a solid shout. But still - few and far between and Hangeland was great for us as a club and a solid PL defender, definitely.

Dempsey not that amazing 😂😂😂 give your head a wobble . He was all action played in multiple positions scored goals good in the air had a great song proper maverick

[jayffc]

If we get Sterling he'd likely be useful to compete with Nelson and Iwobi at LW - and as with Willian, step in should Reiss get injured again.

Appreciate it doesnt set the heart racing like a young up and coming winger with "potential" might, but then I liked the look of Tresor last year "the assist king" and he did bugger all at Burnley so ya never know  ...Perhaps the club are also high on Godo's development and waiting to see what he can offer after a loan spell.

Fofana was always a pipe dream, but as pointed out, Nelson when fit, has better stats than even him, so perhaps a pairing of him + a reliable tested option like Sterling in case it goes t**s up will do us well. If Marco thinks he can get sterling back to good form much like Willian in his first season back then I'm willing to believe.   


https://x.com/mitro_KeNz9/status/1948743901466005718

P.S theres confirmation of the GK signing with us from Basseys leaked Snapchat. Almost feel like it's on purpose at this point between him and Iwobi 🤣

[General]

If we get Sterling he'd likely be useful to compete with Nelson and Iwobi at LW - and as with Willian, step in should Reiss get injured again.

Appreciate it doesnt set the heart racing like a young up and coming winger with "potential" might, but then I liked the look of Tresor last year "the assist king" and he did bugger all at Burnley so ya never know  ...Perhaps the club are also high on Godo's development and waiting to see what he can offer after a loan spell.

Fofana was always a pipe dream, but as pointed out, Nelson when fit, has better stats than even him, so perhaps a pairing of him + a reliable tested option like Sterling in case it goes t**s up will do us well. If Marco thinks he can get sterling back to good form much like Willian in his first season back then I'm willing to believe.   


https://x.com/mitro_KeNz9/status/1948743901466005718

P.S theres confirmation of the GK signing with us from Basseys leaked Snapchat. Almost feel like it's on purpose at this point between him and Iwobi 🤣

So strange that the club haven't announced the player despite the fact he's signed, training with the squad and even on the bus on the way to Portugal/there already.

I don't understand what the hold ups for -pretty pathetic from club operationally.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

been told that Fulham are confident Raheem Sterling will take a big pay cut to join them this summer.

DSTM

He's on 300k a week. He'd have to slash his wage by at least 200k to join us since we don't usually go above 100k.

If he performs anywhere near the level he did at City then he'd be a great signing but that's a big if.

£100k is still too much.

[Coastwalker]

If we get Sterling he'd likely be useful to compete with Nelson and Iwobi at LW - and as with Willian, step in should Reiss get injured again.

Appreciate it doesnt set the heart racing like a young up and coming winger with "potential" might, but then I liked the look of Tresor last year "the assist king" and he did bugger all at Burnley so ya never know  ...Perhaps the club are also high on Godo's development and waiting to see what he can offer after a loan spell.

Fofana was always a pipe dream, but as pointed out, Nelson when fit, has better stats than even him, so perhaps a pairing of him + a reliable tested option like Sterling in case it goes t**s up will do us well. If Marco thinks he can get sterling back to good form much like Willian in his first season back then I'm willing to believe.   


https://x.com/mitro_KeNz9/status/1948743901466005718

P.S theres confirmation of the GK signing with us from Basseys leaked Snapchat. Almost feel like it's on purpose at this point between him and Iwobi 🤣

So strange that the club haven't announced the player despite the fact he's signed, training with the squad and even on the bus on the way to Portugal/there already.

I don't understand what the hold ups for -pretty pathetic from club operationally.

So secretive we are all the time,wouldn't surprise me if we're not run by the Masonics.🤔
Or the Vatican secret service.😁

[Tabby]

been told that Fulham are confident Raheem Sterling will take a big pay cut to join them this summer.

DSTM

He's on 300k a week. He'd have to slash his wage by at least 200k to join us since we don't usually go above 100k.

If he performs anywhere near the level he did at City then he'd be a great signing but that's a big if.

£100k is still too much.

It is less than Jimenez is on in fairness. But I doubt he'd agree to slash his wages by more than half and that Chelsea would just let him leave for free.

[KJS]

If we get Sterling he'd likely be useful to compete with Nelson and Iwobi at LW - and as with Willian, step in should Reiss get injured again.

Appreciate it doesnt set the heart racing like a young up and coming winger with "potential" might, but then I liked the look of Tresor last year "the assist king" and he did bugger all at Burnley so ya never know  ...Perhaps the club are also high on Godo's development and waiting to see what he can offer after a loan spell.

Fofana was always a pipe dream, but as pointed out, Nelson when fit, has better stats than even him, so perhaps a pairing of him + a reliable tested option like Sterling in case it goes t**s up will do us well. If Marco thinks he can get sterling back to good form much like Willian in his first season back then I'm willing to believe.   


https://x.com/mitro_KeNz9/status/1948743901466005718

P.S theres confirmation of the GK signing with us from Basseys leaked Snapchat. Almost feel like it's on purpose at this point between him and Iwobi 🤣

So strange that the club haven't announced the player despite the fact he's signed, training with the squad and even on the bus on the way to Portugal/there already.

I don't understand what the hold ups for -pretty pathetic from club operationally.

Your correct, you totally don't understand the hold up, so to call it pathetic makes your comments pathetic

[Tabby]

Botafogo looking at signing Mehdi Taremi now according to Brazilian media.

[General]

If we get Sterling he'd likely be useful to compete with Nelson and Iwobi at LW - and as with Willian, step in should Reiss get injured again.

Appreciate it doesnt set the heart racing like a young up and coming winger with "potential" might, but then I liked the look of Tresor last year "the assist king" and he did bugger all at Burnley so ya never know  ...Perhaps the club are also high on Godo's development and waiting to see what he can offer after a loan spell.

Fofana was always a pipe dream, but as pointed out, Nelson when fit, has better stats than even him, so perhaps a pairing of him + a reliable tested option like Sterling in case it goes t**s up will do us well. If Marco thinks he can get sterling back to good form much like Willian in his first season back then I'm willing to believe.   


https://x.com/mitro_KeNz9/status/1948743901466005718

P.S theres confirmation of the GK signing with us from Basseys leaked Snapchat. Almost feel like it's on purpose at this point between him and Iwobi 🤣

So strange that the club haven't announced the player despite the fact he's signed, training with the squad and even on the bus on the way to Portugal/there already.

I don't understand what the hold ups for -pretty pathetic from club operationally.

Your correct, you totally don't understand the hold up, so to call it pathetic makes your comments pathetic

What a reply. Did chatgpt write that for you?

My initial comment still stands, though I did write in the new kit thread that maybe it being launched now had something to do with that.. but then that would require you to read, pause, digest information and have a more informed opinion...

[Tabby]

Maybe they are looking to announce it at the 27th so that Angus can say we are being far slower than usual.

[DM]

Not really news but expect an official announcement of Lecomte in the next couple of hours.