Schu me the way to Amarillo - Summer 2025 Transfer Thread

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Walsall have just lost in the play offs. Does that make a Jellis signing more likely? 5 days and counting…….

Wasn’t Jellis someone we were linked with under the last regime? That looks to me like it might be an agent trying to rekindle an old rumour.

He was – which doesn't necessarily mean we're not still interested, but you imagine he'd have to be approved by Schuey, Harkin and Jimmy D, one of whom ain't even in the room yet.

Besides, Walsall have an optional year's extension on his contract, so he'd have to pull a strop, be transfer-listed, cost money &c

[HMX]

I'm bored. Any goss?

Yengi is being linked with a move to Wycombe. I'd like him here (okay – I've only seen him once, and he did destroy us).

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'm bored. Any goss?

Yengi is being linked with a move to Wycombe. I'd like him here (okay – I've only seen him once, and he did destroy us).

*So* bored. There aren't even many new retained/released lists to pore over, until the playoffers do theirs.

Yengi feels like one of those players we made look like Pele - the goal he scored against us was his only league goal between August and February - but I guess there are worse players around. On an unrelated note, where do we think we can palm Nlundulu off next?

[HMX]

I'm bored. Any goss?

Yengi is being linked with a move to Wycombe. I'd like him here (okay – I've only seen him once, and he did destroy us).

*So* bored. There aren't even many new retained/released lists to pore over, until the playoffers do theirs.

Yengi feels like one of those players we made look like Pele - the goal he scored against us was his only league goal between August and February - but I guess there are worse players around. On an unrelated note, where do we think we can palm Nlundulu off next?

Offer him to Cambridge for £50k? He seemed to fit better there than here.

[jmjhb]

Probably be some movement next week. No idea on specifics, like.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

On an unrelated note, where do we think we can palm Nlundulu off next?

Offer him to Cambridge for £50k? He seemed to fit better there than here.

'Nominal fee'. Although it might be worth more to us in saved wages to release him without any actual 'fee' payment.

Say for argument's sake he's on £5kpw - that's £250k we're on the hook for over the year. He would be within his rights to not leave for less than £5kpw elsewhere; that's contractual law for ya. If Cambridge want him but can only offer him £3k per week, we could (if we like) pay him the other £100k as a lump sum (add your own joke), literally cutting our losses. It's either that or we have to loan him again, and pay a percentage of his wages; but if he's released by mutuial agreement, he might even agree to slightly less just for the clean break.

(Numbers are all for sake of illustration, description and breeze-shooting.)

[jmjhb]

Cambridge covered all his wages this season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Cambridge covered all his wages this season.

That's good to know, but they can now plead poverty what with being back in the basement.

[TANGODANCER]

Cambridge covered all his wages this season.

That's good to know, but they can now plead poverty what with being back in the basement.

The phrase, "buying into" is becoming as familiar as it is mysterious in any Bolton management related interview right now. But what exactly are the players being asked to do apart from earn their wages? Not being naive , but it seems all a bit gee-uppish ;something you'd see mid-season after being mid-table rather than a war cry to march forth on a new battle. I suppose the club have to say something, but surely it needs to be encouraging ; even Silence is Golden" has a hint of promise.

Ah well, Que Sera as ever.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Been thinking about Fergal Harkin's interview, and specifically the part where he says 25 is too many senior players.

There's nothing revolutionary about that - smaller squads are favoured by managers as varied as Mourinho and Guardiola, with the latter recently rather histrionically threatening to quit this summer if City don't trim down. But it does make you think about who's in - and who might be out.

Firstly, if 25 is too many, what's just right? It's possible they'll aim for 22 seniors - two per position - but 20 is the next round number down, especially considering Harkin was speaking in conjunction with blooding youngsters.

That would also be well within the EFL limit of 22 senior outfielders; I suspect the only way we may be pushing that number is if we can't shift the deadwood.

Right now, how many players do we have? I make it 21, but that's including Hutchinson, who will presumably be sent on loan as soon as we get our own loanee. It also includes Conway, who counts as overage this season and (we suspect) has pre-season to prove he's worth an EFL squad allocation - although if we're way under the limit he may be kept around the first six months, with its three or four Sherpa Vans and a sprinkling of FA /League Cup early rounds.

The problem is partly the numbers of players and partly their sheer imbalance. We don't know what formation Schuey will play, but it will presumably include centre-backs; we have four of them, which sounds like a perfect number if we play a back four, except that there are question marks over whether Forrester and Johnston can play in a back four. If on the other hand we're playing a back three, you imagine we'd need another head in there - and that's without noting that our defence last season was bottom-third for goals conceded and clean sheets kept, and that most fans would treat the capture of a commanding centre-back leader with tears of gratitude.

Same goes in central ("sitting") midfield. We've got three (Sheehan, Morley, Thomason), four at a push if you include Dempsey, but there'd be ticker-tape if we bought a six-foot-plus bastard to patrol our midfield like an avenging angel.

We also need help in the full-back / wing-back positions. There's Cogz, Osei-Tutu and possibly Conway. That's it. I don't think Schuey has played Schon for a single minute at wingback, let alone full-back. So that's another one or two needed.

Finally but most glaringly in the "holes to fill" is centre-forward. That's a proper centre-forward, be he a target man or a whippet to run in behind. If we're discerning between those and second-line "attacking midfielders", I think we only have two centre-forwards, and neither is likely to feature, being as one (Adeboyejo) isn't an option till Christmas 2025 and the other (Nlundulu) hasn't been an option since Christmas 2023, if ever at all.

Which leaves the other problem. If we count "attacking midfielders" as those who look happiest at 11, 10 or 7, who you wouldn't pick to sit in midfield, we have an extraordinary seven of them in the squad: Schon, Dempsey, Mendes Gomes, Collins, Lolos, McAtee and Randall. Sure, you can stick Dempsey or Lolos in deep midfield, CMG at wingback, or Collins/McAtee/Lolos up top, but is that where they work, if anywhere at all?

Given that Schuey has said he thinks the squad lacks what we might call a 'proper winger' or two, this is howlingly bad news for some of those players. Put bluntly, they're going to have to go, and you imagine the words from Schumacher and Harkin about 'buying in' are the prelude to a lot of very difficult conversations. Summer is about the bright sunlit anticipation of new faces, but the numbers suggest we'll also need a night of the long knives.

Squad make-up, with contract length after player name:
GK (2)
Southwood 1+1
Hutchinson ?

CB (4)
Forrester 1
Johnston 1
Toal 2
Forino 2

FB/WB (3)
Dacres-Cogley 1
Osei-Tutu 1
Conway ?

CEN MID (3)
Sheehan 2
Thomason 2
Morley 2

ATT MID (7!)
Schön 2+1
Dempsey 1
Mendes Gomes 1
Collins 2
Lolos 2
McAtee 2
Randall 3

CEN FWD (2)
Adeboyejo 1
Nlundulu 1

[Wrighty92]

Squad make-up, with contract length after player name:
GK (2)
Southwood 1+1
Hutchinson ?

CB (4)
Forrester 1
Johnston 1
Toal 2
Forino 2

FB/WB (3)
Dacres-Cogley 1
Osei-Tutu 1
Conway ?

CEN MID (3)
Sheehan 2
Thomason 2
Morley 2

ATT MID (7!)
Schön 2+1
Dempsey 1
Mendes Gomes 1
Collins 2
Lolos 2
McAtee 2
Randall 3

CEN FWD (2)
Adeboyejo 1
Nlundulu 1

Using your list with contract length remaining has really helped me process this, so thanks a lot for that

I would assume that we will be looking at a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-2-1 formation and in different formations, players could have different roles (e.g --> In a 3-4-2-1 I'd assume Osei-Tutu would be Wing Back, whereas he'd be a Winger in the 4-2-3-1 - probably similar for Schön). Therefore I'll split the 2 formations and see what I'd imagine we'll be needing:

Not included as likely to be loaned out in my opinion

Hutchinson
Lolos
Inwood
Sharples-Ahmed

4-2-3-1

GK
Southwood

CB
Forino
Forrester
Toal


RB/LB
Cogley (RB)
Conway (LB)
G Johnston (LB)

CM
Sheehan
Morley
Thomason

CAM
Dempsey
Randall
McAtee (put him here as I don't really know where he's best tbh)

LW
Collins
Osei-Tutu

RW
Schön
Mendes Gomes

ST
Adeboyejo (injured for a while)
Nlundulu (will probs be injured for a while soon)
Abimbola (may continue with the youngsters and get a bit of a 20 minute run out here and there)

Obvious gaps

Goalkeeper to challenge Southwood (most likely to be a loanee I'd guess)
RB option to rotate with Cogley
Another out and out LB to rotate with Conway if he's good enough in pre-season anyway
A CM to play in the deeper role with a bit more steel
Another fast winger so when Osei-Tutu gets injured, we aren't stuck with a whole attacking midfield of players strolling around
A first choice striker
A second choice striker

4-2-3-1

GK
Southwood

CB
Forino
Forrester
Toal
G Johnston


RWB/LWB
Cogley (RWB)
Schön (RWB)
Osei Tutu (LWB)
Conway (LWB)


CM for a midfield 3
Sheehan
Morley
Thomason
Dempsey


Wingers/Attacking midfielders
Collins
Mendes Gomes
Randall
McAtee

ST
Adeboyejo (injured for a while)
Nlundulu (will probs be injured for a while soon)
Abimbola (may continue with the youngsters and get a bit of a 20 minute run out here and there)

Obvious gaps

Goalkeeper to challenge Southwood (most likely to be a loanee I'd guess)
Proper RWB option to rotate with Cogley
LWB to rotate with Conway if he's good enough in pre-season anyway
A CM to play in the deeper role with a bit more steel
Potentially another CM with steel for this system
Another fast winger so when Osei-Tutu gets injured, we aren't stuck with a whole attacking midfield of players strolling around
A first choice striker
A second choice striker

Long story short, I think we could do with offloading a few (maybe more than a few) and filling those gaps as well as replacing those who we ship out. The absolute essentials across both formations are a goalkeeper to challenge Southwood, most likely one of the loanees who have been at Doncaster and AFC Wimbledon (assuming we can convince them the step up is better for their development). We also really need a full-back/wing-back on each side to give us some strength in depth. At least one CM with a bit more steel to compliment Morley, Sheehan and Thomason and allow them to show their best work. At least one winger/attacking midfielder with a bit more pace about them is vital and we need 2 new number 9s who can allow the likes of Collins and McAtee the opportunity to focus on what they do with the ball, rather than pretending to jump/challenge for headers when we clear our lines.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Interesting stuff. I should say that barring Conway, mainly because he's overage but also because he's done well in the fourth tier, I haven't included the kids in my calculations; I do believe they'll be involved, and that's great, but I think it's a risk to 'rely' on them in squad calculations. For a start, as you suggest, ones who need 'men's football' like Inwood and Sharples-Ahmed may well be loaned out to continue their development. Sonny and Sam still have two underage seasons left so it's not a desperate rush to check their level, but at some stage they'll need regular football to kick on; they 'year peer' Dubem Eze benefited from that this season and ended up in the Conference playoffs.

Interesting that you have Johnston as a potential LB. I hope that works, if we're floating into a back four. Less confident in your assertion that Schuey might play Schon as wingback, except perhaps in an emergency. To me, we need one fullback/wingback on each side, unless we're happy with JDC/JOT as the right-side option, which is fair enough; certainly there are more glaring holes to fill.

We have players who can float between roles, and that's good - I would hate us to become so rigid that we can't tweak in-game. But we also have a lot of players who seem surplus.

Oh one other thing - both the Prem goalie loanees we were linked with got promoted (Chelsea's Sharman-Lowe at Donny and Palace's Goodman at Wimbledon), so one danger is that those clubs could say "Why don't you leave them developing with us?" The loaning clubs would also be more confident that their kids would be first-choice, and arguably more likely to be busy. Against that, we have the "bigger club pressure" card to play, as well as shouting JAMES TRAFFORD at every possible opportunity...

[TANGODANCER]

The phrase, "buying into" is becoming as familiar as it is mysterious in any Bolton management related interview right now. But what exactly are the players being asked to do apart from earn their wages? Not being naive , but it seems all a bit gee-uppish ;something you'd see mid-season after being mid-table rather than a war cry to march forth on a new battle. I suppose the club have to say something, but surely it needs to be encouraging ; even Silence is Golden" has a hint of promise.

Ah well, Que Sera as ever.

Sems some staff might be reading our forum..

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... wanderers/

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

QPR
Released: Kenneth Paal, Conor Clark, Samuel Manufor, Harry Murphy, Casey Shann
Discussions Ongoing: Lucas Andersen, Jack Colback, Jimmy Dunne, Morgan Fox, Joel Halliday, Noah McCann, Kieran Petrie, Nathan Shepperd

The released five are all kids bar Paal - a left-back, 28 this summer, who's added 123 Champo appearances in his three years at QPR to the 100 top-tier Dutch games he'd had before. Probably going back to Holland.

[Bertie Wooster]

Probably be some movement next week. No idea on specifics, like.

I understand if you can't divulge for obvious reasons, but do you know of any ins & outs to be announced on Sunday / Monday ? numbers not names.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

A website is linking us with Sam Dalby - striker released by Wrexham.

[The_Gun]

A website is linking us with Sam Dalby - striker released by Wrexham.

One to really set the pulse racing, eh?

[BWFC_Insane]

A website is linking us with Sam Dalby - striker released by Wrexham.

One to really set the pulse racing, eh?

15 goals for Dundee United last season. It’s Scotland I know….

[The_Gun]

A website is linking us with Sam Dalby - striker released by Wrexham.

One to really set the pulse racing, eh?

15 goals for Dundee United last season. It’s Scotland I know….

Yeah, that’s actually not too bad. Again, kind of following the mould of a peak aged player unproven outside of the lower leagues, but at least there would be no fee involved this time.

[The_Gun]

Probably be some movement next week. No idea on specifics, like.

Do you have any insight as to whether the youth players offered pro deals have all signed them?

If you can’t divulge, is that something likely to be announced next week?