2025 Summer Transfer gossip and squad discussion (and manager)

[herefordbornleedsboy]

How on earth are we getting outdone by bloody Sunderland in the transfer market?!! My only hope is that he wasn't top of our list of targets because if so this is not a good look.

[The Subhuman]

Wonder what made Sunderland more attractive to Diarra? I knew we'd struggle to beat out the 17 but to lose out to an inferior rival kinda stings

Still waiting for that sit up and smile signing.

[The Subhuman]

Bit of a surprise that.

We were telling the YEP and Athletic we expected him to have bigger ambitions than a relegation battle.

Clearly not.

About 30M with 4 in add ons ..

[WhiteRose]

Wonder what made Sunderland more attractive to Diarra? I knew we'd struggle to beat out the 17 but to lose out to an inferior rival kinda stings

Still waiting for that sit up and smile signing.

Sounds like a simple case of which side wants to pay more - rather than a preference for club. Doesn’t say much but I’d not even heard of him until a month ago so hard to get too bothered about it.

[WhiteRose]

The market is stupid now, 70+ million for players like semenyo , Mbuemo or Eze as good as they are is crazy money just a few years ago these would be 30-40 million max- Raphinha was only 50. 30 for diarra is silly looking at his stats for last season in ligue 1

[Johnsie123]

Not to happy that we missed out on Diarra but as someone else said ain't heared of him till a month ago,I would prefer we get muniz prem experience but they want stupid money for him,we need left back and keeper got to keep going .

[Sean_Nile]

Wonder what made Sunderland more attractive to Diarra? I knew we'd struggle to beat out the 17 but to lose out to an inferior rival kinda stings

Still waiting for that sit up and smile signing.

Must have been the attraction of the sunshine east coast.

[whiteinfrance]

So Sunderland scalped by Strasbourg for 30 million

I 'm sure there are as good or better for closer to 20 million.

We will see. But this one doesn't bother me.

[pjm2019]

Come the 1st July feel we shall see 2-3 quality players incoming with another 1-2 the following week. And of course 4-5 being sold

[Sean_Nile]

So Sunderland scalped by Strasbourg for 30 million

I 'm sure there are as good or better for closer to 20 million.

We will see. But this one doesn't bother me.

Strasbourg FC was bought by Chelsea owner Todd Boehly, Sunderland money going into Boehly's pocket?

[Jammy 07]

So Sunderland scalped by Strasbourg for 30 million

I 'm sure there are as good or better for closer to 20 million.

We will see. But this one doesn't bother me.

Sunderland just reinvesting the money they received for Bellingham and so have traded one asset for another. Personally I think they have got the better of the dealings as Dortmund will find out soon enough.

We should have done the same when we sold Kalvin but we signed Roca on the cheap instead.

[ElKapitan]

Diarra looks like a talent at 21.....

Think he would be great in that Joe Rothwell type role... That said, 30 million is a lot for a player who's numbers last season weren't that impressive. The premier leagues a step up and need players delivering now not in a few years.... At 30 million there's better targets out there, though Diarra would have been nice.

We'll find out what the right move was in a few months but I'm not overly worried by it. Sunderland using Bellingham money.... Probably the better player for them if I'm honest.

What worries me is how many players we need for squad depth.

Key areas where we have nothing that will keep us up IMO:

Gk, Left back, cam, no10, left wing, striker

We also have nothing beyond the starters at:

Right back, left centre back, defensive midfield.

Players I think won't cut it and need replacing:

Gruev, Meslier, Byram, Aarronsson.

Lot of players need to be bought so money needs to be spent wisely.... Getting into a bidding war with Sunderland's Bellingham cash isn't value for money when we need numbers so this could prove wise.

[1964white]

Let's face it everyone, Sunderland & Burnley are going to be looking at similar players as us with their realistic budgets.

[weasel]

Not at all fussed byt this. Seems we valued him at nearer to £20m and last thing we want to do is get into bidding wars and spend too much of our budget on players that aren't essential (for example if spending an extra £10m to get him meant us not having £10m for a keeper). £30m + add ons eliminates any profit unless he does absolutely amazing.

[Cjay]

Only time will tell whether we were right or wrong.

Is a bit embarrassing given he was a main target as the YEP and Athletic said and given the amount of times during Orta's time we seemingly picked the wrong player, just have to see what happens

Highly rated Diarra so bit of a blow.

Hopefully some more movement next week.

[weasel]

Only time will tell whether we were right or wrong.

Is a bit embarrassing given he was a main target as the YEP and Athletic said and given the amount of times during Orta's time we seemingly picked the wrong player, just have to see what happens

Highly rated Diarra so bit of a blow.

Hopefully some more movement next week.

Time can prove us wrong and right even if the outcome is the same. Rutter for example was wrong and right. We made a tiny profit so in that sense it was right but he was totally the wrong player at the time (and signing a proven striker or other players at the time may have helped us stay us).

For me this lad may be a cracking player but I do think we have more pressing needs. Remember how many seasons we bought players under Orta but failed to buy a central midfielder? Central midfield for me at present is the least of our concerns as I think Ampadu and AO are both decent and I think Gruev is more than capable as back up.

[The Subhuman]

We signed Geo as one for the future after other targets fell through. Massive win for us. 28 mill to buy, sold for around 10 m profit inside 18months

[Cjay]

We signed Geo as one for the future after other targets fell through. Massive win for us. 28 mill to buy, sold for around 10 m profit inside 18months

Orta by his own admission could have signed Victor Gyorkeres but didn't think he was worth the money.

He was wrong to sign Rutter over Gyorkeres at the time.

Georgie did come good so as Weasel said good and bad.

But at the time wrong.

It's possible Diarra may be the same for them (hopefully for us)

[Cjay]

Time can prove us wrong and right even if the outcome is the same. Rutter for example was wrong and right. We made a tiny profit so in that sense it was right but he was totally the wrong player at the time (and signing a proven striker or other players at the time may have helped us stay us).

For me this lad may be a cracking player but I do think we have more pressing needs. Remember how many seasons we bought players under Orta but failed to buy a central midfielder? Central midfield for me at present is the least of our concerns as I think Ampadu and AO are both decent and I think Gruev is more than capable as back up.

Ultimately we won't know until we see who we sign , see how they do, see how we do overall and the same for Diarra and Sunderland.

Sunderland are being linked to sign very decent players on paper as well as Diarra.

Hopefully we do as well.

We've taken different approaches, we've promoted an unknown from within to lead our recruitment.

Sunderland have added a highly rated lad from France to join their other highly rated Director to lead them.

[PhoenixUnited]

Ultimately we won't know until we see who we sign , see how they do, see how we do overall and the same for Diarra and Sunderland.

Sunderland are being linked to sign very decent players on paper as well as Diarra.

Hopefully we do as well.

We've taken different approaches, we've promoted an unknown from within to lead our recruitment.

Sunderland have added a highly rated lad from France to join their other highly rated Director to lead them.

You would think that the 49rs know a thing or two about how to pull together and run a sports outfit............