🌞Summer Silly Season Transfer thread 2026

[Hatch007]

@TheOnionBag

Ray Lew is a family friend and his son, Craig, coaches my daughter's team; Cobham Girls U18s

Nicer fellas you could not wish to meet.

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

About four years ago Steve Sidwell gave a motivational talk at my granddaughters Ashtead school which she attended with her parents.Steve covered his career including with Fulham and the highs and lows which professional footballers can have. Apparently he was a very level headed and interesting individual not afraid to highlight where things can go wrong.

[Rambler]

Can I just come back to Shea Charles.
If Crystal Palace can't spend anything because of PSR (I know they can only spend 75%, whereas us 85% because we aren't in Europe) I would really worry how much we can spend too.

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

[KJS]

Can I just come back to Shea Charles.
If Crystal Palace can't spend anything because of PSR (I know they can only spend 75%, whereas us 85% because we aren't in Europe) I would really worry how much we can spend too.

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Im sure the club are aware of how much we can spend so dont worry too much

[Carborundum]

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

You are probably right unfortunately.  I cling to the thought that Mr Mackintosh is good at spreadsheets and what's the point of building a hotel in the new stand if we can't sell it to ourselves to mitigate extravagant transfer  business.

[demeant0r]

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

You are probably right unfortunately.  I cling to the thought that Mr Mackintosh is good at spreadsheets and what's the point of building a hotel in the new stand if we can't sell it to ourselves to mitigate extravagant transfer  business.

That cheat code has been disabled by the PL

[Arthur]

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Transfer fees are not necessarily paid in full up front. The £26M fee may well, for example, be being paid in instalments, and it may be we only have to pay, say, half of the fee now.

If there's one thing that can be said about our dealings since our last promotion, it is that we clearly don't throw money at transfers impatiently to get them done. And (to repeat the phrase) if there is one thing I have confidence in the Club, it is that we will stay within our limits for SCR.

[General]

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Transfer fees are not necessarily paid in full up front. The £26M fee may well, for example, be being paid in instalments, and it may be we only have to pay, say, half of the fee now.

If there's one thing that can be said about our dealings since our last promotion, it is that we clearly don't throw money at transfers impatiently to get them done. And (to repeat the phrase) if there is one thing I have confidence in the Club, it is that we will stay within our limits for SCR.

This, £42 spent will be distributed over a period of time, this could mean that the initial outlay could be £10m in first year for example..

[Deeping_white]

Can I just come back to Shea Charles.
If Crystal Palace can't spend anything because of PSR (I know they can only spend 75%, whereas us 85% because we aren't in Europe) I would really worry how much we can spend too.

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Those fees will be amortised over 5 years so the impact is spread out, the key thing for FFC was wages which come into play now with SCR being the bigger issue. We barely spent anything last year so we're not paying off many transfer fees, and we've lost over £300k a week in salaries to pay with Wilson, Diop, Adama and Raul not being here, and Lukic will also be on healthy wages which is why with some value we'll likely try and shift him too. We're targeting younger players on lower wages, who if need be can be sold likely at least break even given their age, and will only need to have a half decent season before a bigger club comes knocking to sign them up and allow us to make a profit which is promptly reinvested. Diop & Lukic being sold will generate nearly £20m in revenue which is another bonus and tips us further towards a better SCR ratio. The other factor is that we can exceed the permissable limits once and then work towards being compliant for a couple of years and the only punishment will be a slap on the wrists with a fine, we'd really have to fail it for a points deduction.

Palace have historically paid quite big wages and have similar revenue levels as us which is the issue, we'll find ourselves doing more of a Bournemouth/Brentford/Brighton in terms of buying high potential kids between £20-40m and flipping them inside 2 years to keep generating revenue - it sucks but it's the transactional model that keeps the big 6 happy

[Rambler]

Can I just come back to Shea Charles.
If Crystal Palace can't spend anything because of PSR (I know they can only spend 75%, whereas us 85% because we aren't in Europe) I would really worry how much we can spend too.

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Those fees will be amortised over 5 years so the impact is spread out, the key thing for FFC was wages which come into play now with SCR being the bigger issue. We barely spent anything last year so we're not paying off many transfer fees, and we've lost over £300k a week in salaries to pay with Wilson, Diop, Adama and Raul not being here, and Lukic will also be on healthy wages which is why with some value we'll likely try and shift him too. We're targeting younger players on lower wages, who if need be can be sold likely at least break even given their age, and will only need to have a half decent season before a bigger club comes knocking to sign them up and allow us to make a profit which is promptly reinvested. Diop & Lukic being sold will generate nearly £20m in revenue which is another bonus and tips us further towards a better SCR ratio. The other factor is that we can exceed the permissable limits once and then work towards being compliant for a couple of years and the only punishment will be a slap on the wrists with a fine, we'd really have to fail it for a points deduction.

Palace have historically paid quite big wages and have similar revenue levels as us which is the issue, we'll find ourselves doing more of a Bournemouth/Brentford/Brighton in terms of buying high potential kids between £20-40m and flipping them inside 2 years to keep generating revenue - it sucks but it's the transactional model that keeps the big 6 happy

This is very informative and reassuring. Thank you

[Jims Dentist]

Can I just come back to Shea Charles.
If Crystal Palace can't spend anything because of PSR (I know they can only spend 75%, whereas us 85% because we aren't in Europe) I would really worry how much we can spend too.

If we have spent £42 mil on palacios and Garcia, but recouped £10 on diop, thus net £32 million how much more can we spend? Is it sensible to spend a large majority on Charles?

Swap Charles for ESR.👹

[jayffc]

https://x.com/i/status/2085067006144131277

Sounds like fee agreed for Shea

[TheOnionBag]

@TheOnionBag

Ray Lew is a family friend and his son, Craig, coaches my daughter's team; Cobham Girls U18s

Nicer fellas you could not wish to meet.

Hatch that is really good to hear, I always liked Ray as a player and having re watched a few of the games from the big match revisited it reminded me what a tough cookie he was, he was on the end of some really crunching tackles (now days they would be fouls worthy of yellow/red cards) and it was a case of pulling his socks up (literally) and getting on with the game, always a top player and great you can confirm he is a top bloke.     

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

If what is true about Shea then 30 million is too much. For that price you should get a ready made quality DM not one that misplaces passes or needs another season to adapt, and this is the from the championship not the PL.

I disagree, the market for midfielders is a joke. Remember that Spurs paid 100m for Tonali. Don't see who else is available for EUR30m?

I really don't mean to call you out, but I hear this a fair bit and don't really agree.

It is true that the top end of the market has gone mad and trying to get anything like value for money is almost impossible. But there is still plenty of value out there for teams with the ability to look for it.

Just looking at transfer this summer, Hayden Hackney, the Championship player of the season, moved to Everton for less than £20m.

Kang-in Lee, who's won the UCL twice with PSG has moved for a fee of about £35m.

Even Arthur Atta, who we had been linked with last season, moved for a fee around £20m.

So I think the market for good value hasn't completely dried up yet, even if it has shrunk with some of the made fees being paid out so far.

I'm not really sure I'm a good judge of whether Shea Charles is good value or not at about £30m but I'm happy to wait and see.

The fee being quoted was £25m (30m is in Euros). Hackney is actually £24m all in with add ons. Tonali happened after Hackney. I stand by what I'm saying... £25m isn't mad for this guy.

[jayffc]

I find it hard to believe we'd have new players training with the team when their signings haven't even been announced. I mean, I know some leakage of information is inevitable but at that point you're essentially displaying the player publicly at the training ground and completely losing control of the announcement process.

Coming back to this after the club posted the obligatory "First Day at Fulham" video and it appears to me that this is exactly what happened. That is, our two most recent signings were training with the team before their signings had been announced by the club. It looks like they did their medical (or more likely a portion of it) at a very empty training ground Sunday afternoon. Among other things you see in the video they are greeted by the manager in the dining room at 7:20pm (digital clock in the background). Then they arrive the next morning and you see them meet teammates, eat and train before heading over to the Cottage to do photos, interviews, etc. that afternoon/early evening. The club then announced their signing later that night.

Yup: it appears it happened almost exactly as the "imaginary" commentary put it.

Deal agreed mid last week (aligned with Gonzalo posting champagne on the IG)
Players Flew out Saturday (reported by Matteo)
Our Team flew back from Portugal same day but returned to work Motspur Monday
Real signings had Medical Sunday/Monday as seen alone at empty Motspur first (Reed: you training today? Gonzalo 'I trained yesterday but yeh')
Players seemingly worked out with the team Monday in their group gym session
Then after had their photos taken at the cottage (exactly as reported)
Players continued on the pitch with the team yesterday

Of course rather than acknowledging this and perhaps retracting being rude and dismissive, it just got moved to being about August and it being late still.
It is...what it is, and it will always be like this as it has always been like this.

[Angus Telford]

Sorry but again, I dont believe wages are any more important now under SCR than they already were under the old regime.

As for fees, as others have said, each team's position will depend how much they spent in previous years that's still amortising this year, so comparing clubs' spending just over this summer is apples and oranges.

[Bronaldinho]

Interesting comment form Southampton reddit thread here on Charles.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SaintsFC/s/SYTbqAlAbG

Obviously, players perform differently at every club and different environments. But saints fans generally seem okay with him departing.

[KentFulham]

A midfielder that scores though, we need one of them

[Jules]

Can we send Harrison Reed back to Saints to reduce the Charles fee by a couple of mill?

[@jolslover]

I think Charles is a good player but for 30m I think we should be aiming for someone who is clear prem quality which I don't think he is right now (definitely has the potential to be).

From Jan onwards I am sure he came off the bench as many times as he started for Southampton (a Championship club).

Still, If he is someone that Arbeloa wanted them I am behind him and I definitely think he has the potential to be good at our level just not sure he would have been my first choice for 30m.