What + who are our top summer 2026 targets?

My dream-window would be:

Fernandes (60M€)
Sadiki (50M€)
Ederson (40M€)
Truffert (40M€)
Kayode (60M€)
Richarlison (30M€)

Pretty expensive with 280M all in all but with all our outgoings (around 125M€) I think its still realistic.

Hojlund (40M€)
Rashford (30M€)
Zirkzee (30M€)
Ugarte (25M€)
 
Dream/ semi realistic summer:

Tchouaméni - 70m
M Fernandes - 60m
Hall or Kadioglu - 50m
Mateta - 25m
Hackney or Shea Charles - 20m

Cherry on top if they can get the rashford to barca deal done for the agreed fee...

Diomande - 70m

That's around the 300m mark...really don't know if the budget will stretch to that but there will be massive wages removed with sancho, case and rashford leaving. CL money and new sponsors etc etc

Should get around 30-50m more in fees and saved wages with zirkzee, ugarte, malacia and onana looking nailed on to leave (albeit Onana probably on loan again)

I know ideally CB, RB and backup keeper should be addressed too but if we got those deals above done for this year, we'd be in pretty good shape.
 
Based on the rumored positions, I could see the following being a realistic transfer window;

Backup GK - Sam Johnstone - £2M
Left back - Hall - £50M
CM - Baleba - £70M
CM - Ederson - £40M
CM - Richard Ríos - £20M
ST - Lewandowski - Free
 
croadyman said:
Yeah you do wonder if INEOS look at Toney's gambling history in the same way they do at Tonali whether that's right or not is up for debate.
Click to expand...
Toney's salary will be the blocker, he went to Saudi because of the money, up until then he earned a pittance compared with a "normal" PL salary, nothing will have changed
 
Based on the recent reports of 3 midfielders, 1 left back, 1 experienced striker:

Midfield:
Elliot Anderson(23) - £105m
Mateus Fernandes(21) - £60m
Leon Goretzka(31) - Free

Lots of combinations possible with this. Anderson can play next to Mainoo in most games. Goretzka would probably be available for around £5-6m/y (that's roughly the contract AC Milan are offering him). He can be backup as an 8 or 6. Adds some much needed experience, especially in the Champions League.
Long-term, with Bruno out of the picture, there's even the possibility to play proper 4-3-3 with Mainoo-Anderson-Baleba and without a traditional 10. That midfield would be able to do a bit of everything really.

Left Back:
Lewis Hall(21) - £60m

There's an apparent rift in his relationship with Eddie Howe in recent weeks, which might open up an opportunity here. He's the most straight forward Shaw replacement out there. Adds what Shaw can't do anymore from the left. Combine his running power and delivery with Cunha or Dorgu and we're instantly a much greater threat on that side. Just watch Mainoo's goal against Liverpool to see how much we can benefit from better and more frequent overlapping runs from our full backs.

Backup striker:
Jean-Phillipe Mateta(28) - £40m

Good Premier League striker. Brings essentially most of what Sesko does. Strong finisher, decently quick, good in the air, holds the ball up well.
One year left on his contract this summer. If he hits some form, he could even challenge Sesko for the starting spot, or of course be thrown on in the last minutes of a game in addition to Sesko, when we're looking for a goal.

Alternative:
Raul Jimenez(35) - Free

Solid player at both Wolves and Fulham. Much better suited to Premier League football than Zirkzee. Could still sign a new contract with Fulham though.


- £225-265m

Sell:
Joshua Zirkzee - £25m
Manuel Ugarte - £20m
Marcus Rashford - £25m (Barcelona)
Rasmus Hojlund - £38m (Napoli)

Andre Onana - Loan (Anywhere)

Casemiro - Out of contract
Jadon Sancho - Out of contract
Tyrell Malacia - Out of contract


Assess De Ligt's and Martinez' fitness towards the end of pre-season. If there's doubts, find a smart Lammens-type deal for a central defender. If the club wants to send Vitek out on loan again, find a free/cheap goalkeeper who's better than Bayindir; Nick Pope or Yann Sommer perhaps.
 
Last edited:
Dream window for me involves signing Alex Scott and Lewis Hall.

After that I'd be happy to see any of Garner, M.Fernandes, Tchouaméni, Truffert, Wilson, Diomande, Ederson joining the club. Can't say I've seen much of the last two though.
 
sp_cgb said:
Based on the recent reports of 3 midfielders, 1 left back, 1 experienced striker:

Midfield:
Elliot Anderson(23) - £105m
Carlos Baleba(22) - £60m
Leon Goretzka(31) - Free

Lots of combinations possible with this. Anderson can play next to Mainoo in most games. If we need more legs and physicality in our 4-2-3-1, bring in Baleba for one of them, most likely Mainoo. Goretzka would probably be available for around £5-6m/y (that's roughly the contract AC Milan are offering him). He can be backup as an 8 or 6. Adds some much needed experience, especially in the Champions League.
Long-term, with Bruno out of the picture, there's even the possibility to play proper 4-3-3 with Mainoo-Anderson-Baleba and without a traditional 10. That midfield would be able to do a bit of everything really.

Left Back:
Lewis Hall(21) - £60m

There's an apparent rift in his relationship with Eddie Howe in recent weeks, which might open up an opportunity here. He's the most straight forward Shaw replacement out there. Adds what Shaw can't do anymore from the left. Combine his running power and delivery with Cunha or Dorgu and we're instantly a much greater threat on that side. Just watch Mainoo's goal against Liverpool to see how much we can benefit from better and more frequent overlapping runs from our full backs.

Backup striker:
Jean-Phillipe Mateta(28) - £40m

Good Premier League striker. Brings essentially most of what Sesko does. Strong finisher, decently quick, good in the air, holds the ball up well.
One year left on his contract this summer. If he hits some form, he could even challenge Sesko for the starting spot, or of course be thrown on in the last minutes of a game in addition to Sesko, when we're looking for a goal.

Alternative:
Raul Jimenez(35) - Free

Solid player at both Wolves and Fulham. Much better suited to Premier League football than Zirkzee. Could still sign a new contract with Fulham though.


- £225-265m

Sell:
Joshua Zirkzee - £25m
Manuel Ugarte - £20m
Marcus Rashford - £25m (Barcelona)
Rasmus Hojlund - £38m (Napoli)

Andre Onana - Loan (Anywhere)

Casemiro - Out of contract
Jadon Sancho - Out of contract
Tyrell Malacia - Out of contract


Assess De Ligt's and Martinez' fitness towards the end of pre-season. If there's doubts, find a smart Lammens-type deal for a central defender. If the club wants to send Vitek out on loan again, find a free/cheap goalkeeper who's better than Bayindir; Nick Pope or Yann Sommer perhaps.
Click to expand...
The only way Utd would pay £105m for Anderson is if the fee was something like £85m plus £20m addons. I would also swap Baleba for Fernandes, however would suggest he is gonna cost more than we are probably willing to pay. Totally on the Lewis Hall train and despite the age and wages would at least ask Lewandowski the question.
 
Cabin Clown said:
Dream window for me involves signing Alex Scott and Lewis Hall.

After that I'd be happy to see any of Garner, M.Fernandes, Tchouaméni, Truffert, Wilson, Diomande, Ederson joining the club. Can't say I've seen much of the last two though.
Click to expand...
How much do you reckon to sign Scott?
 
croadyman said:
The only way Utd would pay £105m for Anderson is if the fee was something like £85m plus £20m addons.
Click to expand...
Look, I think I said this already in the Elliot Anderson thread, but if United were ever seriously interested, which we were led to believe all season, then they would've known, that it'll take a ridiculous fee to get him. I refuse to think, that the people in charge of transfers at United are so blatantly naive as to think otherwise. Even if Forest would've gone down the price would always have been sky high.
In the end it will all depend on how serious Forest and Marinakis are for a deal to happen. They'll probably use the Rice fee as a guideline and I doubt any club will be willing to pay more than that. Not even City. So he either moves at a barely reasonable price around those £100-105m, or not at all.

Also guess where Anderson is turning up for his next match. It's almost perfectly set up for him to have a great game in front of the Old Trafford crowd and most likely with all the executives in attendance for our last home game of the season. Sometimes coincidences like this can certainly make a small difference in the dynamics of a potential deal. If he impresses on Sunday, the media buzz around him and his future will only increase in intensity.
 
Last edited:
croadyman said:
The only way Utd would pay £105m for Anderson is if the fee was something like £85m plus £20m addons. I would also swap Baleba for Fernandes, however would suggest he is gonna cost more than we are probably willing to pay. Totally on the Lewis Hall train and despite the age and wages would at least ask Lewandowski the question.
Click to expand...
Why would the add-ons make such a big difference? Most add-ons are pretty easily achievable anyway, so that'd be like paying £95-100M.

And Lewandowski won't come here, for several reasons. He'll go somewhere he's the clear starter.
 
Red in STL said:
Toney's salary will be the blocker, he went to Saudi because of the money, up until then he earned a pittance compared with a "normal" PL salary, nothing will have changed
Click to expand...
I have a hunch that the Saudi league will stop importing expensive foreigners, as they are pulling finances from sporting projects. A player with half a brain in his head will understand where that’s going and will know that they cannot expect the same salary back in the real world
 
Bobby_2024 said:
Seems few good midfielders we can pick in this summer, so hope we get 2 or 3 from this list, which one do you pick if you can choose 3 from this list


Elliot Anderson (Forrest)
Touchameni (Real)
Anderson (Atlanta)
Bruno Guimaraes (New castle)
Adam Wharton (palace)
Baleba (Brighton)
Kees Smit(AZ)
Mateus Fernandes (Westham)
Alex Scott (Bournemouth)
Tonali (Newcastle)
Jao Gomes (Wolves)
Click to expand...
If I can just pick three of those, no questions asked, I'd go with Anderson, Tchouameni, and Scott.

Being somewhat realistic, I think we can almost certainly rule our the possibility of signing both Anderson and Tchouameni in the summer. I think, if Ugarte goes, we should be after two capable defensive midfield players and an 8 who's shown a good range of passing as the ideal three midfield signings. I'd still be extremely pleased with a window of Tchouameni, Fernandes, and one of Scott or Baleba coming in, for example.

We'll just have to wait and see just how available any of these are.
 
croadyman said:
The only way Utd would pay £105m for Anderson is if the fee was something like £85m plus £20m addons. I would also swap Baleba for Fernandes, however would suggest he is gonna cost more than we are probably willing to pay. Totally on the Lewis Hall train and despite the age and wages would at least ask Lewandowski the question.
Click to expand...
So no defensive minded midfielder?
 
Would you be happy if we sign only 2 premium midfielders this year (Anderson and Fernandes) and spend money on LB and a backup CF.

May be another free transfer like Goretzka or 10M on a backup CM would help though.
 
golden_blunder said:
Where are you going to get a backup midfielder for 10m?
Click to expand...
some one on last year contract or in his last years just as a back up for 1 or 2 years support as we have few good guys coming on from academy, as 2 new quality signings and Mainoo could cover mostly.
 
bb8 said:
Why would the add-ons make such a big difference? Most add-ons are pretty easily achievable anyway, so that'd be like paying £95-100M.

And Lewandowski won't come here, for several reasons. He'll go somewhere he's the clear starter.
Click to expand...
I think Lewandowski would be interested in helping to mentor Sesko, however suspect Saudi move lure will prove too great to turn down in the end
 
Do we have the capacity to complete the first deal very early and who would that might be?
We had Cunha on 27th of May last year.
 
Clearly CM is the priority, but I think we need to really look at the FB situation after that. I would have the summer priority is;

CM
CM
LB
RB
CM

There has been a lot of criticism levelled at our attack - some of it justified - but for me, fresh legs at FB would completely revitalise our attacking play.

On the left side, Cunha loves to drift and roam and play quite narrow - we need a LB who can hold width, get up and down the pitch and provide overlapping runs. Shaw can’t do this anymore. Dorgu may be able to but he is suspect defensively.

On the right, Mbeumo is basically a player in the mould of Salah. He will stay wide but then wants to cut in and shoot when he has the ball. If we want to get he most out of him, we need the sort of RB Salah and - in the mould of Alexander Arnold. A player who can invert, push into midfield and contribute to the attacking buildup play.

I don’t have clear solutions for either of those positions - but for me those should be the priority after the two big midfield signings.
 
if i had £300m would be looking at several transfers i think and prioritising numbers and players fit what we need in key areas...so need to find value too.

2 x dm - baleba and camavinga £110m
1 x lb -maxi araujo £40m
1x rb - wesley £40m

These are for me prorities. Baleba is still my top choice, the other three maybe not but best value possibly. As for gk im not really concerned.

Beyond that id add..

Manzambi £35m
Jeremy Monga £10m
Mateus Mane £30m
Kevin Filling £5m

Around £270, id sign a cb too if deligt doesnt recover.

Obviously likes of anderson, fernandes, diomande, nicolas paz, kruepi, balde, hall be good....but think they are either unattainable, too expensive for a full rebuild on our buget or just dont really fit what we need...and we need at least 5, ideally 9
 
jesperjaap said:
if i had £300m would be looking at several transfers i think and prioritising numbers and players fit what we need in key areas...so need to find value too.

2 x dm - baleba and camavinga £110m
1 x lb -maxi araujo £40m
1x rb - wesley £40m

These are for me prorities. Baleba is still my top choice, the other three maybe not but best value possibly. As for gk im not really concerned.

Beyond that id add..

Manzambi £35m
Jeremy Monga £10m
Mateus Mane £30m
Kevin Filling £5m

Around £270, id sign a cb too if deligt doesnt recover.

Obviously likes of anderson, fernandes, diomande, nicolas paz, kruepi, balde, hall be good....but think they are either unattainable, too expensive for a full rebuild on our buget or just dont really fit what we need...and we need at least 5, ideally 9
Click to expand...
I think the only way we consider a move for Camavinga is if it involved something like loan with option to buy for £35m. I doubt Real are gonna be open to that sort of deal though
 
TheGame said:
£105m for Elliot Anderson. :lol: Forget about that being an absurd price, INEOS will never go close to that.
Click to expand...
I'd almost be tempted with 105m though, but have a feeling Nottingham Forest will ask for like 120m or something. and can see City paying for that if Rodri leaves. Heck even Chelsea would pay that if Enzo leaves too.
 
RedKnight88 said:
I'd almost be tempted with 105m though, but have a feeling Nottingham Forest will ask for like 120m or something. and can see City paying for that if Rodri leaves. Heck even Chelsea would pay that if Enzo leaves too.
Click to expand...
Yeah money is no object to either of them
 
croadyman said:
I think the only way we consider a move for Camavinga is if it involved something like loan with option to buy for £35m. I doubt Real are gonna be open to that sort of deal though
Click to expand...
I actually think Camavinga and Tchouameni will both stay at Madrid, £35m isnt happening though but £40-45m is a steal for me even with the injuries and form As a second choice possibly he will get games an dis way bettr
 
Reading some clubs are linked to Valverde got me thinking maybe there is a chance he'll be the player pushed out by real instead of Tchouameni, especially with Mourinho likely incoming.

If that were how things planned out, I could see us doing something like to transform the midfield:

Experienced DM - Hjulmand (£50m)
Young DM - Baleba (£60m) or Bouaddi (£40m)
Competition for Kobbie - Fernandes/Scott (£60m) or Kees Smit (£40m)

I think that would give us a good balance of (european+league) experience for the here and now and youth to ensure we're squad building sustainably.
 
croadyman said:
I think Lewandowski would be interested in helping to mentor Sesko, however suspect Saudi move lure will prove too great to turn down in the end
Click to expand...
I don’t know if Saudis are going to be going crazy this summer with the rumours of decreasing investment into sports. Normally you’d have lots of rumours of X players being chased by Saudi clubs at this time of year. I haven’t seen any yet
 
golden_blunder said:
I don’t know if Saudis are going to be going crazy this summer with the rumours of decreasing investment into sports. Normally you’d have lots of rumours of X players being chased by Saudi clubs at this time of year. I haven’t seen any yet
Click to expand...

World cup might be a factor.
 
I'd get a centre back having read the de list news.

However, we'd need a shrewd investment in a mid 20s player who could make the step up or a veteran available on a free (but with high wages) who can offer a lot of experience.

Isn't John Stones available?
 
Feels like CB, LB, 2-3 CMs, LW and CF are almost essential just to have sufficient numbers. Not great.
 
horsechoker said:
I'd get a centre back having read the de list news.

However, we'd need a shrewd investment in a mid 20s player who could make the step up or a veteran available on a free (but with high wages) who can offer a lot of experience.

Isn't John Stones available?
Click to expand...
Rudiger maybe (yes I know he is 33), suspect Senesi will end up going to Spurs when they stay up
 
You must log in or register to reply here.