Player Suggestion EFL Targets for 2025/26

[mattbianco1]

GK
Owen Goodman - Wimbledon is an England u20 international on loan from Palace.
Tommy Simkin - Walsall is an England u21 international on loan from Stoke.

Need a very good understudy to Cooper. Davies isn't good enough. Not sure who may be willing to come in as #2.

CB
Rob Holding.
Harry Darling - free transfer - Swansea
Jimmy Dunne - free transfer - QPR

RB/RWB
Dunne (above)
I'd like to see Hamza Choudhury, but think Leicester may use him again in this league
Milan van Ewijk - Coventry. That would be a statement signing and one we probably wouldn't pull off without a hefty fee
Kaine Kesler-Hayden - Aston Villa, was on loan at Preston last season

CM (box-to-box)
Cameron Brannigan - Oxford. Always liked him. Stepped up into Championship well. 3 goals, 4 assists.
Alex Robertson - Cardiff. Ex-Man City youth. Had a decent season in a shite Cardiff team. Only 22. 3 goals, 3 assists
Jason Knight - Bristol City. Another like van Ewijk who we may be priced out of. 3 goals, 6 assists
Hayden Hackney - Middlesbrough. This would be a statement, i expect he'll be off to a lower PL team this summer. 5 goals, 3 assists

All above are goalscoring CM's. Something we've lacked this season - Peck (0), Souza (0), Davies (1)

CAM / WING
Kwame Poku - Peterborough. 12 goals, 8 assists. Missed half the season due to injury. A goal every 172mins in L1 this season.
Borja Sainz - Norwich. Can we prize him away. We were linked assuming PL promotion. Started off in red hot form. 18 goals and 4 assists
Giorgi Chakvetadze - Watford. 2 goals, 6 assists
Finn Azaz - Middlesbrough. Irish International, 12 goals and 11 assists this season.
Million Manhoef - Stoke. 5 goals, 4 assists. Can operate at Wing Back if we reverted to 3 CBs.
Tyrhys Dolan - Blackburn. Free Transfer. Another decent season for him. 7 goals, 6 assists
Djeidi Gassama - Pigs. Over the 2 games against them, he was the one that actually threatened our defence. Only 20, bit of a project, but a lot cheaper than Rak-Sakyi would be. 7 goals, 1 assist

ST
Josh Sargent - Norwich. This would be my #1 target if we had gone up. Probably out of our reach now. Destined for PL
Richard Kone - Wycombe. Missed out on promotion. 18 goals, 3 assists. Can he step up?
Adam Armstrong - WBA (loaned from Southampton). Still only 27. Similar type of player/competition for Campbell. Suspect Southampton will use him this season

 

[Blademan89]

This would be the list of players I'd be looking from/at (obviously not sign all of them) but theres plan A/B and Cs in various positions, and depending on who we sell and what money we have etc.

 

[mattbianco1]

This would be the list of players I'd be looking from/at (obviously not sign all of them) but theres plan A/B and Cs in various positions, and depending on who we sell and what money we have etc.
View attachment 212028View attachment 212029View attachment 212030

Fair few crossovers there between us.

Good shout on Mat Ryan (GK). Although if Ramsdale leaves Southampton, he could follow Will Still there

 

[Blademan89]

Fair few crossovers there between us.

Good shout on Mat Ryan (GK). Although if Ramsdale leaves Southampton, he could follow Will Still there

Yeah, I mentioned that in another thread that he could follow still there.

I like the Milan van Ewijk suggestion from yourself at rb, would be similar to Burrows at for attacking, would provide balance going down either side (plus it allows us to retain a long throw, which would make robbo totally redundant).

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Tricky little un's to play midfield on left side and drift inside.

Illias Chair .....QPR
Giorgi Chakvetadze .....Watford
Anis Mehmeti ......Bristol City

​

 

[bibbity bobbity boo]

Owen Goodman is going to he a top goalkeeper. He is only 21, I would be surprised if Palace let him go

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Wonder how much Chakvetadze would cost?

Short on G+A but he's the sort of calibre we should try to replace Hamer with if we can. Would make us a much more fluid and creative team, especially if Souza is not in it and Arblaster is. It's about time we started having the ball and outclassing teams

 

[FriethBlade]

Chakvetadze is by far my favourite target. Similar to Hamer, can play central or left and is good with both feet. Takes a good free kick also.

Watford fans think he's on his way out

 

[loyalblade95]

GK:
1) Sam Tickle (Wigan) - permanent fee
2) Angus Gunn (Norwich) - free transfer

RB:
1) Jimmy Dunne (QPR) - free transfer
2) Jonjoe Kenny (Hertha Berlin) - free transfer
3) Kaine Kessler-Hayden (Aston Villa) - loan/loan to buy

CB:
1) Harry Darling (Swansea) - free transfer
2) Chris Mepham (Bournemouth) - free transfer
3) Japhet Tanganga (Millwall) - permanent fee
Might be optimistic and expensive (£10m+), but it would be a real statement signing.

CM:
1) Tommy Doyle (Wolves) - loan
2) Joe Rothwell (Bournemouth) - permanent fee

CAM:
1) Fin Azaz (Middlesbrough) - permanent fee
Like Tanganga, it might be optimistic but would be a proper statement signing

RW/LW:
1) Tyrys Dolan (Blackburn) - free transfer
2) Grady Diangana (WBA) - free transfer
3) Lewis Koumas (Liverpool?) - loan
4) Josh Murphy (Portsmouth) - permanent fee

ST:
1) Davis Keillor-Dunn (Barnsley) - permanent fee
While primarily a CAM that can also play ST and LW, most of his goals this season were as a ST
2) Emil Riis Jacobson (PNE) - free transfer

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I did a One to Watch thread last summer and Poku, Dolan and Brannagan were all on my list. So was Rocco Vata who ended up signing for Watford from Celtic for a compensation fee of about £250k. He got 4 goals 3 assists in 33 games as a bit part player and I'm expecting him to really make the step up next season. If he does then they won't hold onto him for long. Dembele, who signed for QPR last summer, was another who caught my eye and was outstanding for them until he got injured.

There are some great players out there so it'll be interesting to see where our AI/Data analytics goes.

 

[thehet]

Jimmy Dunne free
Chris Mepham free
Haji Wright
Richard Kone

 

[FTPE]

Good list.
Obviously we'll have to go with the '2nd list' now we haven't been promoted, but in a way it's good we're not with Leeds. They'd be fishing in the same pool again. We beat them to a few signings last Sunmer but it's nice not to have a big spending Championship, promotion rival 45min away. There's a few free transfers we should be mopping up, and sometimes that comes down to wages that are being offered

 

[loyalblade95]

Good list.
Obviously we'll have to go with the '2nd list' now we haven't been promoted, but in a way it's good we're not with Leeds. They'd be fishing in the same pool again. We beat them to a few signings last Sunmer but it's nice not to have a big spending Championship, promotion rival 45min away. There's a few free transfers we should be mopping up, and sometimes that comes down to wages that are being offered

We're probably fishing in the same pool as Ipswich, Southampton and maybe Birmingham, so we should.

We beat Leeds to Burrows and Cooper last summer, Burnley to O'Hare (though they beat us to Worrall), Sunderland to Cannon and BBD in January.

We should be able to compete with every team in this league (and beat most of them) to the better free agents.

 

[Gimli]

GK:
1) Sam Tickle (Wigan) - permanent fee
2) Angus Gunn (Norwich) - free transfer

RB:
1) Jimmy Dunne (QPR) - free transfer
2) Jonjoe Kenny (Hertha Berlin) - free transfer
3) Kaine Kessler-Hayden (Aston Villa) - loan/loan to buy

CB:
1) Harry Darling (Swansea) - free transfer
2) Chris Mepham (Bournemouth) - free transfer
3) Japhet Tanganga (Millwall) - permanent fee
Might be optimistic and expensive (£10m+), but it would be a real statement signing.

CM:
1) Tommy Doyle (Wolves) - loan
2) Joe Rothwell (Bournemouth) - permanent fee

CAM:
1) Fin Azaz (Middlesbrough) - permanent fee
Like Tanganga, it might be optimistic but would be a proper statement signing

RW/LW:
1) Tyrys Dolan (Blackburn) - free transfer
2) Grady Diangana (WBA) - free transfer
3) Lewis Koumas (Liverpool?) - loan
4) Josh Murphy (Portsmouth) - permanent fee

ST:
1) Davis Keillor-Dunn (Barnsley) - permanent fee
While primarily a CAM that can also play ST and LW, most of his goals this season were as a ST
2) Emil Riis Jacobson (PNE) - free transfer

I like a lot of these, and like you say, some real ‘statement signings’ in there.

Why not though! It’s not like these are completely unattainable players why not go all out for them?

Also like the shouts for Chakvertadze.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Sounds great, but the robots are in charge now.

If the recruitment strategy is more Jefferson Caceres then Joe Rothwell, I expect Wilder to walk.

 

[Danetheblade]

Sounds great, but the robots are in charge now.

If the recruitment strategy is more Jefferson Caceres then Joe Rothwell, I expect Wilder to walk.

I think with the AI strategy, we’ll see players of an unknown quantity, that don’t cost the earth cause they’re not in English football. Good thing imo, rather see us spend on some unknowns from abroad with data driven reasonings that aren’t “played at x y z, manager knows him”

 

[ancientblade]

joe rothwell would be a great signing especially if souza and peck go think dunne is nailed on to come in and compete with seriki at right back and souttar holding mepham and worrall all have to be potential centre back targets also like the suggestion of murphy out wide he gave us a torrid time last season for pompey all i would also say is that if wilder stays just hope he really goes for it with attacking football and not the succesful yes but very boring sideways backwards negative sitting on a 1 goal lead type of football its boring our fans to oblivion no wonder theres little atmosphere at the lane these days

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

We're probably fishing in the same pool as Ipswich, Southampton and maybe Birmingham, so we should.

We beat Leeds to Burrows and Cooper last summer, Burnley to O'Hare (though they beat us to Worrall), Sunderland to Cannon and BBD in January.

We should be able to compete with every team in this league (and beat most of them) to the better free agents.

Didn't Leeds want Rak-Sakyi too?

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Didn't Leeds want Rak-Sakyi too?

They can have him.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Looking outside the EFL.

Keito Nakamura (24).

Striker/Left Winger, 5'9 tall, currently under contract until 2028 at Stade Reims in France. This last season he scored 11 goals in 32 league matches, 9 of which came in 27 games playing on the left wing.

Could be a potential steal for a modest fee and wages won't be too much of an issue as Reims have just been relegated.

Nakamura is a current Japanese international and will no doubt be looking for a move away this summer.

 

[Jan Age]

I think the AI bit will play two roles:

Role A

Identified targets from scouting. AI will run stats etc. to try and obtain an objective view of who would be best to go for. - wilder won’t be comfortable

Role B

Identify players worthy of further scouting before recommending to management team - wilder work he comfortable

I can’t honestly see the strategy working with wilder in charge

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I think the AI bit will play two roles:

Role A

Identified targets from scouting. AI will run stats etc. to try and obtain an objective view of who would be best to go for. - wilder won’t be comfortable

Role B

Identify players worthy of further scouting before recommending to management team - wilder work he comfortable

I can’t honestly see the strategy working with wilder in charge

It makes you wonder if this is why the retained list is everyone bar the loan players. Is this Wilder's way of trying to block the recruitment as there are limited squad places available.

The retained list has 22 players, 23 if Brewster signs. That leaves room for 2 more players unless we see some outgoings. Even less if we do take up thr option on Choudhury.

This doesn't fill me with confidence for this summer and appears to be more of a "we'll make do with what we've got approach."

It'll be interesting to see what the owners do without Wilder, such as the two lads they signed in January.

 

[Jan Age]

It makes you wonder if this is why the retained list is everyone bar the loan players. Is this Wilder's way of trying to block the recruitment as there are limited squad places available.

The retained list has 22 players, 23 if Brewster signs. That leaves room for 2 more players unless we see some outgoings. Even less if we do take up thr option on Choudhury.

This doesn't fill me with confidence for this summer and appears to be more of a "we'll make do with what we've got approach."

It'll be interesting to see what the owners do without Wilder, such as the two lads they signed in January.

Good points mate…

This window in many respects could be harder than last summer because we need to shift some to bring some in.

Like you say 2 places at present
Anel, Hamer and Souza likely to go.

Loan for One I think.

That gives us 6 places and I think we need to shift 2 more as I think we need 8.

But who are the other two?

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Good points mate…

This window in many respects could be harder than last summer because we need to shift some to bring some in.

Like you say 2 places at present
Anel, Hamer and Souza likely to go.

Loan for One I think.

That gives us 6 places and I think we need to shift 2 more as I think we need 8.

But who are the other two?

One is listed in the development squad, not the first team.

 

[Blade56]

I think the AI bit will play two roles:

Role A

Identified targets from scouting. AI will run stats etc. to try and obtain an objective view of who would be best to go for. - wilder won’t be comfortable

Role B

Identify players worthy of further scouting before recommending to management team - wilder work he comfortable

I can’t honestly see the strategy working with wilder in charge

Shirley AI targets have been identified and watched over the last 3-4 months. There’s no point in waiting until the season starts to watch them.

With the data driven analytics they’ll be a lot of ‘drag’ in the process until it’s up and running. Until then let Wilder pick the targets

 

[Railway Blade]

It makes you wonder if this is why the retained list is everyone bar the loan players. Is this Wilder's way of trying to block the recruitment as there are limited squad places available.

The retained list has 22 players, 23 if Brewster signs. That leaves room for 2 more players unless we see some outgoings. Even less if we do take up thr option on Choudhury.

This doesn't fill me with confidence for this summer and appears to be more of a "we'll make do with what we've got approach."

It'll be interesting to see what the owners do without Wilder, such as the two lads they signed in January.

I would imagine the retained list is everyone bar the loanees because they are all under contract (bar Brewster)

Some will be sold. I would imagine some will be loaned out possibly (RND ? Needs game time). So spaces will be free for potential signings be it players with English football experience or an AI signing from Bogota.

 

[mattbianco1]

It makes you wonder if this is why the retained list is everyone bar the loan players. Is this Wilder's way of trying to block the recruitment as there are limited squad places available.

No. There were only 2 players up for contract renewal - Robinson and Brewster.
Robinson has triggered his own extension and Brewster is in talks. It's just there were only 2 players nearing the end of their contracts that's all.

Had RND & Shackleton been up for renewal for example, I'd wager that they would both have been released

 

[Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head]

Some really good suggestions in these lists.

I think there are 3 or 4 "no Brainer" out of contract players we should look to bring in.
Then I'd like us to flex on a couple of statement signings - re-investing some of transfer fees from Hamer/Souza etc
Then 3 or 4 AI inspired international signings, with probably a couple for now and a couple for development.
Then we use the loan market smartly for probably 4 players.

So that would be 10-12 first team signings to replace the 5/6 loans, 2/3 Players Sold, and probably Brewster leaving as well.

We need to prioritise physicality (Endurance, strength and Speed) and ensure we are bringing through leaders and winners who want to progress in their careers, whilst ideally being able to pass a football.

 

[mattbianco1]

We need to prioritise physicality (Endurance, strength and Speed)

We definitely need a big African in the middle of the park. Loads of stamina and strength to break everything up.

Someone in the Bissouma, Doucoure, Partey, Sarr, Baleba mould.

We've been lacking that in both previous PL campaigns

 

[Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head]

We definitely need a big African in the middle of the park. Loads of stamina and strength to break everything up.

Someone in the Bissouma, Doucoure, Partey, Sarr, Baleba mould.

We've been lacking that in both previous PL campaigns

A nastier, quicker Souza, who whilst I think he did well this season, definitley favours a more counter attacking side