Squad reshape this summer

[Shadota]

Has Baptiste left us?

No, but he wasn't listed on the transfermarkt page I looked at. The site interprets him as being registered for "Sheffield United U21s", rather than the first team, so he wasn't included.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

If CW is saying 6 players in Im guessing it'll be more with players sold surely?

GK
RB
CB
CM
AM/W
ST

Bare minimum.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Every piece of useless clutter should be removed

Cannon, Chong, McGuinness, Matos.... all of them and anyone similar

Accept that they are all hopeless mistakes and don't delay the inevitable large losses

I am not interested in committing a great deal to these players in order to scrape some sort of meagre return on investment with on pitch contributions

"Let's stick with a crap 3rd choice CB/CF because we've spent good money on them"
No. Fuck that. Draw a line under it and move on

Get them out on any basis and stop them getting in the way

If we have to sell an extra asset to cover these losses then so be it also

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

 

[Houso]

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Ben's agent be like...

 

[DifferentClass]

Get a proper captain in!

 

[dexter101]

Seemed a strange half a season since he last played.

There was something about surgery on his hand and then he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

 

[Blademan89]

Seemed a strange half a season since he last played.

There was something about surgery on his hand and then he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

He played after that. He came back against Mansfield who retired him, after that horrendous game hes not been seen since.

 

[dexter101]

He played after that. He came back against Mansfield who retired him, after that horrendous game hes not been seen since.

Always nice to leave on a high...

 

[LBA_Blade]

Where we looked most solid was with that flat back 4 of McCallum, Mee, Tanganga and Seriki. As soon as Mee got injured, the experience went from the defence, I think Bindon has been a great squad addition but needed someone with a bit more composure and experience than Tanganga, then losing McCallum really showed how weak defensively we are. McGuinness is not the answer neither is Zatterstrom or any of the other "AI lads".

 

[s20Blade]

We have been having a squad overhaul every summer for the past 4 years!

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Surprised no news on Ings yet with updates recently on Davies x2, Jairo and Mee.

 

[247Blade]

We have been having a squad overhaul every summer for the past 4 years!

We will get it right eventuaĺly (i think).

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Ignoring loanees because they won't be here past May, we have the below contracts in place for senior players (info taken from transfermarkt - if anything is incorrect feel free to point it out):

Contract expires summer 2026: A. Davies, Ings, Mee, Riedewald, T. Davies (departing)

2027: Bamford, Brooks, Campbell, Curtis, Grbic, Hamer, Norrington-Davies, Nwachukwu, Rothwell, Seriki, Shackleton

2028: Arblaster, Burrows, Marsh, Matos, McCallum, O'Hare, Peck, Tanganga, Ukaki

2029: Cannon, Chong, McGuinness, Oné, Zatterstrom

I only anticipate Jairo staying beyond the summer. Tom Davies is already confirmed to be off, Ings hasn't contributed enough to be worth a new deal, likewise Mee, and Adam D probably doesn't get a new deal by virtue of us having Grbic become a potential GK option for no additional financial outlay.

Of those with 1 year left, I'd only really want us to try and keep Brooks and Seriki. Bamford and Rothwell will stay only by virtue of having only been here for 5 minutes so far. Hamer is a creative force on his day, but in the games where he doesn't perform, it's like playing with 10 men. All of the rest, I'd happily see us do a bargain deal to get them off the books - there's a lot of wage expenditure in that group, for very little talent in return.

2028 group is much stronger in comparison. I'd imagine Matos gets a chance in pre-season to prove his worth, but probably ends up going out on loan anyway. Ukaki probably the same, unless we can sell and free up the ESC spot. Otherwise, we only sell if the deal is right (ideally).

Of those on terms to 2029, I'd happily see us sell any of them besides Oné.

Our 2029 boys have very good agents.

Cannot believe they’ve got those contracts.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Surprised retained list isn't out yet when nothing needs sorting with any players.

 

[BangorBlade]

Wonder if we could swap Tyrece Campbell for Tyreece Campbell without anyone knowing

 

[LBA_Blade]

Surprised retained list isn't out yet when nothing needs sorting with any players.

Usually happens end of May for us, I guess contracts run until June, so there will be the bits of bonuses to sort out and potentially talking to agents.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Usually happens end of May for us, I guess contracts run until June, so there will be the bits of bonuses to sort out and potentially talking to agents.

Mee, Davies and Ings already been mentioned that's what I was meaning

 

[LBA_Blade]

Mee, Davies and Ings already been mentioned that's what I was meaning

Yeah, they are pretty much sorted, although nothing formal with Ings in terms of the media, he does have the option of another year and not sure if that will be up for discussion or not, as not like the other 2 who showed their cards early even though it is doubtful he has done enough for another season. I guess they need to do it in one go, so there also will be the debate has the other Davies done enough to deserve a new contract or will he be released too and rumours are that Jairo is looking for longer than just an extension to his one year trigger so could be looking at that too potentially. But other than that can't be far off.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Tomorrow retained list due?

 

[Need4speed]

Seems obvious sell Gus keep Peck just cos of wages

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Players over 24 as at 30th June 2026 released
Tom Davies, Danny Ings, Ben Mee, Jairo Riedewald.

Loan players returning to parent clubs
Leo Hjelde, Tyler Bindon, Ki-Jana Hoever, Djibril Soumaré, Chiedozie Ogbene, Kalvin Phillips.

Players under 24 as at 30th June 2026 released
Evan Easton, Marshall Francis, Liam Hall, Owen Hampson, Frankie Jones, Jayden Prunty, Jackson Blaize, Jack Waldron.

 

[LBA_Blade]

Players over 24 as at 30th June 2026 released
Tom Davies, Danny Ings, Ben Mee, Jairo Riedewald.

Loan players returning to parent clubs
Leo Hjelde, Tyler Bindon, Ki-Jana Hoever, Djibril Soumaré, Chiedozie Ogbene, Kalvin Phillips.

Players under 24 as at 30th June 2026 released
Evan Easton, Marshall Francis, Liam Hall, Owen Hampson, Frankie Jones, Jayden Prunty, Jackson Blaize, Jack Waldron.

With Liam Hall going puts Tommy Betts up the pecking order in GKs and most of the above were held back by injuries so no real surprises. Leaves us with Betts, Faxon and Hewitson as the 3 main future keepers

 

[Blades1971]

Never mind. If all else fails we got Adam Davies and Gribic. No need to rush Cooper back

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Still need to transfer list some wonderful players to some lucky clubs..

Grbic
McGuinness
Zatterstrom
RND
Shackleton
Matos
Chong
Ukaku
Nwachukwu
Cannon

 

[Keen Blade]

Grbic to come back though and we’ve no guarantee of getting his wages off the books. Can’t justifying having 4 keepers in the first team so Davies should go.

Have it from a reasonably well informed source that Jairo’s option won’t be taken up unless it’s on new (lower) terms.

Reading between the lines the focus on this summer will be clearing out big earners so expect to see Hamer, O’Hare, Cannon and a few others go out rather than players we can get the most value from.

If they're on big wages , they'll be hard to shift.
We are stuck with a lot of the dross.
Our stupid owners pressed the self-destruct button in the last two windows and there's literally nothing we can do but tumble downwards.
Make recruitment decisions as bad as that and it's an act of sabotage.

 

[The Crab]

If they're on big wages , they'll be hard to shift.
We are stuck with a lot of the dross.
Our stupid owners pressed the self-destruct button in the last two windows and there's literally nothing we can do but tumble downwards.
Make recruitment decisions as bad as that and it's an act of sabotage.

I don’t see how the board would wilfully sabotage their investment.

What I would say it is, it’s borderline incompetence from a group of people who are supposed to be smart business people.

Maybe they thought they’d just quick flip the investment and come out in front when we got promoted? It’s like lumping on an odds on favourite with the horses. Three lengths in front in the final furlong then it drops anchor.

Now here we are…

 

[Champagneblade]

Still got loads of players, haven’t we?

G (4): Cooper, Davies, Grbic, Faxon

RB (5): Seriki, Shackleton, Curtis, Sachdev, Polendakov

LB (5): McCallum, Burrows, Norrington-Davies, Buyabu, McGlinchey

CB (5): Tanganga, McGuinness, Baptiste, Sasnauskas, Zatterstrom

M (9): Arblaster, Hamer, O’Hare, Brooks, Chong, Matos, Peck, Rothwell, Ukaki

CF (6): Bamford, Campbell, Cannon, Marsh, Oné, Nwachukwu

That’s 34. Way too many

Could we get away with just loans this year? The odd irresistible free thrown in?

We’ll look to offload Grbic on loan or perm. Faxon also needs to go and play and the young lad Betts needs to play U21s regularly. That’s -1

I would say none of the right backs are up to supporting Seriki so either continue their education on loan or move on. I see Polendakov leaving and Curtis and Sachdev on loan. We’ll be stuck with Shackleton. Depending on formation Walker is obviously in a central defensive 3 or right back. That’s -3 and +1.

I don’t see any change at left back and I can see RND moved on, as well as Buyabu. That’s -2.

We have 5 centre backs and question marks on them all. Maybe Sasnauskas gets brought into the squad but I can see the other two younger ones pushed out the door. McGuinness we may be stuck with but we need a new first choice. Maybe we get Souttar on loan and pair him with Tanganga and have McGuiness and Sasnauskas as back ups? That’s -2 and +1.

So down from 34 to 28 as we move to midfield.

Hamer will leave. We’ll push Matos out the door too. We’ll be stuck with Chong. I’d be amazed if Ukaki isn’t pushed out too. Can see one of Peck or Brooks leaving but not both. I can then see Phillips on loan or Choudhury on loan if that fails. That’s -4 +1.

Squad down to 25 now with one free and 2 loans.

Up front we might cash in on Campbell but eventually realise it’s not worth it and we will be stuck with Cannon. Nwachukwu won’t be here come end of August. So that’s down to 24, possibly 23. Expect then another loan striker if Campbell goes otherwise Oné playing more and potentially a loan winger.

Take us to 25 with one free and three or four loans depending on the fate of Campbell. Expect us to try something decisive like Jamie Vardy for a year though he won’t come.

That’s my prediction.

 

[PrestwichBlade]

I don’t see how the board would wilfully sabotage their investment.

What I would say it is, it’s borderline incompetence from a group of people who are supposed to be smart business people.

Maybe they thought they’d just quick flip the investment and come out in front when we got promoted? It’s like lumping on an odds on favourite with the horses. Three lengths in front in the final furlong then it drops anchor.

Now here we are…

What they'd not accounted for, was the unprecedented case of the jockey jumping off the horse down the final furlong