Schu me the way to Amarillo - Summer 2025 Transfer Thread

[Prufrock]

I don't like this at all!

Southwood going...I can see. He's not good enough to be number one for us, but he's a solid L1 keeper. Though we didn't pay anything for him, he'd been a L1 regular, and we talked about having two number 1s so I imagine he's on pretty good for a keeper wages (though will still be a long long way from our top earner). I'd want a decent fee for him but if so can see the logic on letting him go.

But going into the season with two 22 year olds with 47 league games between them? Christ no. This time last year neither of them had played an EFL game. That's far too big a gamble. And went seen with Billy and the Joels the difference having a div in net can make.

Sell Southwood, fine, but get a solid back up with a loan for Hutch.

[TonyDomingos]

So this is quite a big jump.

Which is exactly what you'd want in a 'keeper!

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't like this at all!

Southwood going...I can see. He's not good enough to be number one for us, but he's a solid L1 keeper. Though we didn't pay anything for him, he'd been a L1 regular, and we talked about having two number 1s so I imagine he's on pretty good for a keeper wages (though will still be a long long way from our top earner). I'd want a decent fee for him but if so can see the logic on letting him go.

But going into the season with two 22 year olds with 47 league games between them? Christ no. This time last year neither of them had played an EFL game. That's far too big a gamble. And went seen with Billy and the Joels the difference having a div in net can make.

Sell Southwood, fine, but get a solid back up with a loan for Hutch.

Southwood wasn’t a solid backup. He was rubbish. He’s going to league two. I think that maybe says it all. Why waste money on someone if they think Hutchinson can do a job? I get the experienced thing but what sort of quality would we get from signing a keeper knowing they’d be sitting on a league one bench?

Coleman was experienced. He was also dreadful.

Let’s stop blocking routes for our younger players IF we think they are good enough. We are in league one this is exactly where people like Hutch are supposed to get a chance.

[Harry Genshaw]

Rubbish? Dreadful?

Rather emotive those Insane, and unfair on those two imo.

FWIW - I'm ok with this. Should the worst happen we can always get an emergency loan in as cover, cant we?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Harry: We can indeed get an emergency loan if we provably only have one 'senior' keeper (and Hutch would count as such).

I wish Hutch all the best and if he'd just had a Conway-style loan - being a decentish D4 club's player of the year - I'd be made up with it (although you can't really give keepers the last 15 minutes like you can with outfielders). As it is, he hasn't even played in a national division, bar the one emergency game at Crawley.

It's not just that I fear he isn't up to it - though we can't possibly know, and it's a risk - but it's also that he needs to find his level, for his own sake as well as ours. Sitting watching 46 games from the bench doesn't seem the best way to judge that. "I must say his high-fives to the substituted attackers look top-class, Clive."

[BWFC_Insane]

Rubbish? Dreadful?

Rather emotive those Insane, and unfair on those two imo.

FWIW - I'm ok with this. Should the worst happen we can always get an emergency loan in as cover, cant we?

I don’t think they were very good. If the argument is we must sign an experienced keeper to act as cover then you are looking at primarily someone like Coleman. Was he good enough to justify that? I don’t think so.


Southwood barely made a save. He’s going to league two. Nothing against him but I do think we are being shown how massively we’ve tended to overrate players. If they are dropping to league two there is a reason.

[The_Gun]

Rubbish? Dreadful?

Rather emotive those Insane, and unfair on those two imo.

FWIW - I'm ok with this. Should the worst happen we can always get an emergency loan in as cover, cant we?

I don’t think they were very good. If the argument is we must sign an experienced keeper to act as cover then you are looking at primarily someone like Coleman. Was he good enough to justify that? I don’t think so.


Southwood barely made a save. He’s going to league two. Nothing against him but I do think we are being shown how massively we’ve tended to overrate players. If they are dropping to league two there is a reason.

He's dropping to League 2 to be a starter. I'd wager that any starter in L2 would be more than good enough to be our back up keeper.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Not sure where this rumour's come from - the account is a retrumpeter of other people's news but a quick search doesn't turn anything up
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Screenshot 2025-06-25 at 12.24.29.png (71.48 KiB) Viewed 618 times

[TonyDomingos]

Not sure where this rumour's come from - the account is a retrumpeter of other people's news but a quick search doesn't turn anything up
.
Screenshot 2025-06-25 at 12.24.29.png

What about Blackpool, Wigan and the unnamed foreign side?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Not sure where this rumour's come from - the account is a retrumpeter of other people's news but a quick search doesn't turn anything up
.
Screenshot 2025-06-25 at 12.24.29.png

What about Blackpool, Wigan and the unnamed foreign side?

heheh! All in time.

In other news, Lincoln are linked with Harry Toffolo, the left-back released by Forest this summer. I'd assumed he was out of our reach - he was linked earlier in summer wih Cov, Norwich and Rangers, and it could be he's only linked with Lincoln because he played for them for a couple of years, and recently did an Imps fan podcast in which he politely refused to rule out the chance of a return – but if Jacob falls through, Toffolo would be one of the better free options available: 99 Championship games (9 goals, 15 assists), 96 League One games (4g 13a), and 46 Premier League games (1g 3a). He only turns 30 in August and he's even 6ft

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Bored at work, I read an interesting piece on Not The Top 20 analysing three seasons of loans (almost 500 of them) to EFL clubs from PL2 clubs (ie the best academies). Slightly surprised to hear that Aston Villa are the most prolific loaners... and interested to see that one of their favourite destinations was Plymouth, so you assume Jimmy Dickinson has their number. They've already sent centre-back Josh Feeney to Huddersfield for the coming season, but who might we borrow?

They sent Tommi O'Reilly on two loans last season - first to Shrewsbury, then MK Dons - but his nicknames of Fodes and Tommy Wilshere betray the fact that he's a li'l 10 and we've got wardrobes full of them.

With uncertainty at left-back over Matty Jacob, we might be interested in Lino Sousa. The 6ft 1in 20-year-old - born in Lisbon but England-capped up to U19 level - was signed by Villa from Arsenal in January 2024 and sent straight to Plymouth, then last season to Bristol Rovers; initially sidelined by injury and overlooked by Matt Taylor, he came to prominence under Inigo Calderon and featured in 17 straight games.

Finley Munroe might be another option. Although primarily a left-back, the 20-year-old (another six-footer, and Declan Rice's cousin) has also been deployed at centre-back and in defensive midfield, including last season at Villa's sister club Real Union in the Spanish third tier. Emery gave him some Premier League minutes at Palace in May 2024.

A left-field option (erm, literally) could be Samuel Iling-Junior. Another six-footer, 22 in October, the Islingtonian was in the Chelsea and Juventus youth set-ups, largely as a forward or winger, before joining Villa last summer. He was loaned to Bologna, scoring in the Champions League, then recalled and sent to Middlesbrough, where he struggled to get in until an injury crisis saw him played as a forward-ranging left-back. Obviously it's a big ask to get him in the third tier, but he needs a run of games, for us that flexibility would be very useful and Jimmy Dickinson could always cite the success at Plymouth of Finn Azaz, sold (ironically to Boro) for something like £2.5m.

One final wild guess: Kadan Young, a 19-year-old winger (either side) with plenty of pace who loves to take on defenders. Was loaned to Royal Antwerp in February but didn't play regularly, so again Villa might look down the divisions for a destination.

[Bijou Bob]

........and there's always Louie Barry........

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

........and there's always Louie Barry........

Very likely to be sold this summer, with Villa one of the clubs hardest-pushed by PSR. I think they'll ask for more than even the wildest D3 spenders can stomach. Despite him not getting much of a go in his Jan-June loan at Hull, I'm sure some or other Champo team will buy him.

[Prufrock]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

[BWFC_Insane]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

I imagine we would be if affordable. Which is suspect would be the blocker.

[The_Gun]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

I imagine we would be if affordable. Which is suspect would be the blocker.

Spotrac and Capology have him as being on £35k pw last season. At a stretch we could probably offer him a fifth of that, which seems an extremely steep drop for a 30 year old to accept.

I think this is more a signing for the Birminghams and Wrexhams of this world.

[BWFC_Insane]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

I imagine we would be if affordable. Which is suspect would be the blocker.

Spotrac and Capology have him as being on £35k pw last season. At a stretch we could probably offer him a fifth of that, which seems an extremely steep drop for a 30 year old to accept.

I think this is more a signing for the Birminghams and Wrexhams of this world.

Indeed - or teams who can make one big splash. We need still several more and have signed 5 already. Hard to see the wage he would want being available to Schuey and I guess if it was would banging it on a 30 year old LB be the best use?

[The_Gun]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

I imagine we would be if affordable. Which is suspect would be the blocker.

Spotrac and Capology have him as being on £35k pw last season. At a stretch we could probably offer him a fifth of that, which seems an extremely steep drop for a 30 year old to accept.

I think this is more a signing for the Birminghams and Wrexhams of this world.

Indeed - or teams who can make one big splash. We need still several more and have signed 5 already. Hard to see the wage he would want being available to Schuey and I guess if it was would banging it on a 30 year old LB be the best use?

Not for me, Clive. We should be able to find a serviceable left back without having to spend too much, and I certainly wouldn't be committing much of our budget to that position.

Bringing more quality in at the top end of the pitch would certainly be my priority at this stage.

[BWFC_Insane]

If Toffolo is available in L1 we should be right at the front of that queue!

I imagine we would be if affordable. Which is suspect would be the blocker.

Spotrac and Capology have him as being on £35k pw last season. At a stretch we could probably offer him a fifth of that, which seems an extremely steep drop for a 30 year old to accept.

I think this is more a signing for the Birminghams and Wrexhams of this world.

Indeed - or teams who can make one big splash. We need still several more and have signed 5 already. Hard to see the wage he would want being available to Schuey and I guess if it was would banging it on a 30 year old LB be the best use?

Not for me, Clive. We should be able to find a serviceable left back without having to spend too much, and I certainly wouldn't be committing much of our budget to that position.

Bringing more quality in at the top end of the pitch would certainly be my priority at this stage.

I guess for me it’s less positional. Left back is important. As important as up top.

And I do think we need an experienced addition or two.

It was more that while I think Toffolo is a really good player sinking a big wage at him at 30 years old whilst we still need a few other positions filling having already spent on a number of players feels like the sort of thing that a Brum or Wrexham could do but probably not what we can.

So if that money was available I’d probably suggest it better split across the areas needed - rather than sunk into one position be that LB or striker.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'll be impressed if Lincoln offer him £35k, a number I suspect Capology have plucked from thin air, as they do. Good on 'em all.

More seriously, IDK - let's see who turns up (and where freebies like Toffolo, if not necessarily him, end up - if anywhere). It's possible if Conway impresses in pre-season we could just go with him: Schumacher mentioned again that Taylor can play left-back, although personally I'd rather the new lad be MMA-monstering in the middle.