The Summer 2025 Transfer Window Thread

[Deutsch Wolf]

Good lad, nice footballer, but as Nick says just neither quick nor strong enough.

Basically Simon Osborn 30 years later.

 

[Lycan]

I'm not particularly bothered about Doyle leaving (plus Dawson and I assume Johnstone) but I really would like us to sign a few English players this summer, even if we have to pay over the odds for them. Nothing to do with the homegrown rules and it's not coming from any kind of Reformy, Brexity place but it is kind of ridiculous that we don't have a single good English player.

 

[big mean bunny]

The fact you have to pay over the odds for them is why I hope we don't. Doesn't make sense to willingly do that.

 

[Lycan]

The fact you have to pay over the odds for them is why I hope we don't. Doesn't make sense to willingly do that.

My issue with that is that the current owners have no reason not to spend big, it's all self imposed. They have the cashflow, the PSR wiggle room and they're charging fans the kind of rates that it doesn't feel out of order to expect that kind of expenditure from them.

To take a random example, Harvey Elliot might move away from Liverpool this summer for £40-50M. That's a lot more than he's actually worth but at the end of the day he's an excellent player in a position where we need to strengthen, he'd automatically be one of our best players if we signed him and we could absolutely afford it while still having enough left to sort out the other areas in our squad. The only reason why we won't get him and he ends up at one of our rivals is because of Fosun and their self sustainability nonsense.

It's an absolute farce that a Premier League club doesn't have one English player that you'd be comfortable starting. I don't want us to become a Yam Yam version of Athletic Bilbao but to not even have one player in the squad capable of making a reasonable contribution is so weird.

 

[Squeak]

My issue with that is that the current owners have no reason not to spend big, it's all self imposed. They have the cashflow, the PSR wiggle room and they're charging fans the kind of rates that it doesn't feel out of order to expect that kind of expenditure from them.

To take a random example, Harvey Elliot might move away from Liverpool this summer for £40-50M. That's a lot more than he's actually worth but at the end of the day he's an excellent player in a position where we need to strengthen, he'd automatically be one of our best players if we signed him and we could absolutely afford it while still having enough left to sort out the other areas in our squad. The only reason why we won't get him and he ends up at one of our rivals is because of Fosun and their self sustainability nonsense.

It's an absolute farce that a Premier League club doesn't have one English player that you'd be comfortable starting. I don't want us to become a Yam Yam version of Athletic Bilbao but to not even have one player in the squad capable of making a reasonable contribution is so weird.

And one counter argument to spending £40-50M on Elliot is that you can buy the equivalent international talent for far less. Look what we spent on Gomes and Andre combined.

 

[Lycan]

And one counter argument to spending £40-50M on Elliot is that you can buy the equivalent international talent for far less. Look what we spent on Gomes and Andre combined.

I'm not arguing against signing André and João Gomes. I'm saying it's ridiculous that we don't have one single good English player. It's not an issue that any other team in this league has, only us.

 

[YoungWolf]

I’m not so fussed about necessarily having English players but I’d rather have another good academy player come through.

Vítor rates Mane which is a bonus but we signed him from Rochdale at 16.

Appreciate it is tough when you have Shahar, Clarke and Ayman all join other premier league clubs at 15/16.

 

[Del Woppio]

I read the other day that United have had an academy graduate in every squad since 1937.

There's something really special I think about having someone in your team that's been at club since primary school

 

[Squeak]

I'm not arguing against signing André and João Gomes. I'm saying it's ridiculous that we don't have one single good English player. It's not an issue that any other team in this league has, only us.

You have to grow your own because any English player that is good enough for the Prem has a price premium. I agree it is ridiculous but it is what it is.

 

[YoungWolf]

I read the other day that United have had an academy graduate in every squad since 1937.

There's something really special I think about having someone in your team that's been at club since primary school

Yeah agreed. Another problem is with PSR it’s too appealing to sell them too

 

[jd1981]

This is it PSR is massively helped by selling players you’ve nurtured through your academy

 

[Wilf Wolf]

How many English players are there in the PL? Less than 100? It’s a tiny fraction of the number of kids that spend at least a year in an Academy. Many like Rooney and Foden stand out from a very early age. Many are destined for the top long before they can sign a professional contract so losing three of our best prospects massively lengthens the odds of unearthing a gem.

 

[Squeak]

How many English players are there in the PL? Less than 100? It’s a tiny fraction of the number of kids that spend at least a year in an Academy. Many like Rooney and Foden stand out from a very early age. Many are destined for the top long before they can sign a professional contract so losing three of our best prospects massively lengthens the odds of unearthing a gem.

Google says 263 English players and given you need at least 8 home grown per team, that surprises me.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Google says 263 English players and given you need at least 8 home grown per team, that surprises me.

How many play more than half the games though? Lots of fringe players that barely play I suspect. Even if it is that many it’s a tiny fraction of those that go through academies.

 

[The Bear]

We had a good English player but Nuno didn't want to play him so we sold him to Forest.

 

[YoungWolf]

We sold him a whole year after Nuno left

 

[big mean bunny]

There was an excellent article on the Athletic the other day about academy football and the issue it has with the cast off players. The key stat was that only 1 in 200 players who enter academys systems will have a career in football. It's pretty stark.

I see he has been mentioned above but I was openly a massive fan of Gibbs-White, but it felt like others couldn't help but want to hate him. So it feels odd to be clamouring for English players, when many couldn't wait to see the back of the one we most recently produced.

 

[Squeak]

How many play more than half the games though? Lots of fringe players that barely play I suspect. Even if it is that many it’s a tiny fraction of those that go through academies.

This was a Times article from the 23/24 season... I can't believe it has got any better.

Number of English starters in top flight at lowest point in past decade

Amount of English qualified starters has dropped by 5 per cent from last season

www.thetimes.com

 

[Squeak]

There was an excellent article on the Athletic the other day about academy football and the issue it has with the cast off players. The key stat was that only 1 in 200 players who enter academys systems will have a career in football. It's pretty stark.

I see he has been mentioned above but I was openly a massive fan of Gibbs-White, but it felt like others couldn't help but want to hate him. So it feels odd to be clamouring for English players, when many couldn't wait to see the back of the one we most recently produced.

It's an odd one re MGW. At the time he was here, it seemed that Nuno didn't trust him to operate as the system demanded. Football then throws up the funny scenario that he gets to manage him again and this time, with a bit more football nous, Nuno makes the most of him. I think most of us backed Nuno's judgement and we were happy with the transfer fee because MGW had a long way to go to fulfill his promise. As regards seeing the back of him, his antics when he left and then holding his hands to his ears when we played them will never go down well.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Can you blame him for leaving, can you blame him for cupping his ears. Twitter was a cesspit of a minority of Wolves fans slagging his girlfriend off, then when he did leave the abuse she got from the Wolves fans during games about his girlfriend was horrendous.