SQUADWATCH - Summer 2026

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Oh for a modern Yann Kermorgant
....

[Hound]

Yes. If only

[linkenholtroyal]

So with the ITK going quiet I thought I would have a chat with the source who said about Marriott and see if he had heard anything. He said very quiet on what is coming out. But….
He believes we are still in discussions about Doyle. This is a very slow burner as Brighton want to sell as he is in the last year of his contract but want a substantial fee. So has been back and forth a lot. May come through later in the window due to this as Brighton may cut their losses on the level of fee. But also there is other interest.
Bowat is likely he was not there first choice. They have had to change choice a couple of times. Burns is also a potential fall back on loanbut his wages are high for a youth player as disclosed by Brogue and Man City want a lot covered.
Finally the striker we all want he has heard very little other than an interest in Daniel Kanu the proposal is a loan with option to buy from our side. But there is a fair amount of interest from league 1 level. They may choose to cash in rather than loan so will either be guzumped by other clubs or we will have to step up if they want him.
Nombe was first choice he chose to go back to MK out terms were better and we matched fee. He wanted the move back to his first club.

[Hound]

Good work, thanks

[Sutekh]

Indeed, excellent background. Shame about Nombe, thought he’d be useful, but can understand the connection. Nice to know all the financials were at least matched, so not a case of not being able to compete!

I’d like Doyle back if we could get him, thought he really started to show something in the last few months he was here last season. Guess our best hope is a loan with an option on buying. Wonder if the player’s personal choice would be a return?

[linkenholtroyal]

Indeed, excellent background. Shame about Nombe, thought he’d be useful, but can understand the connection. Nice to know all the financials were at least matched, so not a case of not being able to compete!

I’d like Doyle back if we could get him, thought he really started to show something in the last few months he was here last season. Guess our best hope is a loan with an option on buying. Wonder if the player’s personal choice would be a return?

The issue with Doyle is the kjnd of situation he is in. There is no real route into the team for him at Brighton, he is in the last year of his contract. From what I gather he would like to come back but Brighton want the most money they can for him and Reading are not willing to meet the current valuation with 1 year left on his contract. I think it may well be one that happens late on if at all.

[Sutekh]

Indeed, excellent background. Shame about Nombe, thought he’d be useful, but can understand the connection. Nice to know all the financials were at least matched, so not a case of not being able to compete!

I’d like Doyle back if we could get him, thought he really started to show something in the last few months he was here last season. Guess our best hope is a loan with an option on buying. Wonder if the player’s personal choice would be a return?

The issue with Doyle is the kjnd of situation he is in. There is no real route into the team for him at Brighton, he is in the last year of his contract. From what I gather he would like to come back but Brighton want the most money they can for him and Reading are not willing to meet the current valuation with 1 year left on his contract. I think it may well be one that happens late on if at all.

I can see Brighton’s point, they don’t see him making it with them so they won’t give a new deal but as there is interest they want to maximise what they can for him before he’s off for nowt next year - let’s hope they’re open to negotiation and a Savage type deal can be reached. If the player’s personal choice is to come back then that’s a big part of things esp. if personal terms are more or less agreed. Just have to hope any other interest is also falling short.

[West F]

The option to buy following a loan of Doyle is pointless with his contract being up at the end of the season. Doyle was OK for us and nothing more. Not being prepared to pay over the odds for a player who is in his last year of contract is actually a commendable stance from the club.
Burns has built a loan career out of being at Man City. He lacks pace and strength and spent most of his time trying to desperately recover from situations where these weaknesses were exposed. Looks like he should be Virgil Van Dijk, turns out to be Dick Van Dyke. Ward and O’Connor are much better players and Ward has a better ceiling. The truth is, that Dorsett is a better option at centre back than Burns.

[Hound]

The option to buy following a loan of Doyle is pointless with his contract being up at the end of the season. Doyle was OK for us and nothing more. Not being prepared to pay over the odds for a player who is in his last year of contract is actually a commendable stance from the club.
Burns has built a loan career out of being at Man City. He lacks pace and strength and spent most of his time trying to desperately recover from situations where these weaknesses were exposed. Looks like he should be Virgil Van Dijk, turns out to be Dick Van Dyke. Ward and O’Connor are much better players and Ward has a better ceiling. The truth is, that Dorsett is a better option at centre back than Burns.

Would roughly agree with this. Both Burns and Doyle had qualities but I felt their profile of player weren’t right for what we want to do

Doyle lacked energy and physicality (though improved) and Burns was painfully slow, which meant we had to play a deeper line and couldn’t press. Prefer Dorsett also

Much prefer what we have now on quicker defenders and more aggressive mobile forward players. Slow CBs and small, powder puff forwards still giving me nightmares about last season

[Whore Jackie]

Have no idea how Burns is at Man City. Very, very slow, not great at reading the game and not particularly adept at passing. That said, wouldn't rate O'Connor as much better. He really needs a strong season, last year wasn't great, his pace or lack of really held us back. Derrick Williams was by the better CB, just a shame he was rarely available. Another CB and CF remain the priorities for me. Happy with the rest of the squad.

[Esteban]

Have no idea how Burns is at Man City. Very, very slow, not great at reading the game and not particularly adept at passing. That said, wouldn't rate O'Connor as much better. He really needs a strong season, last year wasn't great, his pace or lack of really held us back. Derrick Williams was by the better CB, just a shame he was rarely available. Another CB and CF remain the priorities for me. Happy with the rest of the squad.

Agreed, although the left hand side is a bit weak, for me. Would cost us a lot of money to do anything about that this Summer though, unless a club is mad enough to make an offer for Paddy Lane or Daniel K.

I expect Savage will be off before the end of the window too, so we might need to replace him, although I would be happy enough if we backfilled with academy graduates.

[morganb]

Regarding the "Savage type deal" - Man Utd are looking to offload quite a few players this summer:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... y-37511100

The club are open to offers for Ethan Wheatley, Toby Collyer, Dan Gore, Radek Vitek and Harry Amass, while Jacob Devaney and Chido Obi are also facing uncertain futures.

I wonder if they would be willing to do a similar deal for any of these players they want to move on?

[Brogue]

Do we need Doyle?

We have DK, Randell Williams, Lane, and Lisbie as our wingers.

CM of Rino, Wing, Fraser and Savage

ACM of Stokes + Brown can play there

I'd rather we focus on getting 2 more CB's in, plus another striker, and possibly another LB, as I'm still not convinced Dorsett is good enough.

Personally, I think midfield is complete

[Extended-Phenotype]

Yeah, I didn’t rate Doyle as a winger (not a criticism, it isn’t his position) and it feels like Stokes is our main man for that slot - last thing we want is to start fitting square pegs into round holes again, especially in midfield.

Liked Doyle a lot but filling other positions are more important.

[South Coast Royal]

Have no idea how Burns is at Man City. Very, very slow, not great at reading the game and not particularly adept at passing. That said, wouldn't rate O'Connor as much better. He really needs a strong season, last year wasn't great, his pace or lack of really held us back. Derrick Williams was by the better CB, just a shame he was rarely available. Another CB and CF remain the priorities for me. Happy with the rest of the squad.

Very much agree on O'Connor.
His signing was much lauded on here having been supposedly a big player for Lincoln and somebody who also scored goals.

It turns out that Lincoln did rather well without him and he is just a 3rd division stopper and not one that you would expect us to keep if we get to a higher level.

Ward has also been talked up a lot but, from the little that we have seen of him, he does have potential.

As for Burns, forget him.

[Brogue]

Keep this 18 fit and we should have every chance. Just need a bit of depth now. As I said above, I think we need x2 cb's (might be able to get away with one, if we have a youngster ready) a striker and possibly a lb

[WestYorksRoyal]

18 good 1st team options doesn't sound like much, but I wonder how it compares to the 05/06 season. The starting XI picked itself apart from 3 strikers into 2 (conveniently 1 was always injured).

Then Gunnarsson, Oster and Hunt played big roles, Makin had a stretch in the team and Long was on the fringes. Am I missing anyone else? I'm currently at 17. We had to deal with injuries, but the position we really lacked cover was CB where we arguably got a bit lucky.

When Coppell is interviewed back, he always said he preferred a smaller squad. If we have 18 good players, Osho, Beaucroft, Kanu, Ahmed and Hicks hovering around the edges, perhaps we don't need another 5.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

Keep this 18 fit and we should have every chance. Just need a bit of depth now. As I said above, I think we need x2 cb's (might be able to get away with one, if we have a youngster ready) a striker and possibly a lb

That's a decent line-up. Fingers crossed for a less injury-ravaged season.

[stealthpapes]

18 good 1st team options doesn't sound like much, but I wonder how it compares to the 05/06 season. The starting XI picked itself apart from 3 strikers into 2 (conveniently 1 was always injured).

Then Gunnarsson, Oster and Hunt played big roles, Makin had a stretch in the team and Long was on the fringes. Am I missing anyone else? I'm currently at 17. We had to deal with injuries, but the position we really lacked cover was CB where we arguably got a bit lucky.

When Coppell is interviewed back, he always said he preferred a smaller squad. If we have 18 good players, Osho, Beaucroft, Kanu, Ahmed and Hicks hovering around the edges, perhaps we don't need another 5.

25 players played in 05-06
The fringe players, 8 and fewer appearances (and you'll see why that arbitrary number was reached)

Eric Stack 1 league, 7 cup games
Eric Obinna 6 league, 2 cup games
Simon Cox 2 league, 4 cup games
John Halls 1 league (1 goal!), 2 cup games
Sekou Baradji 1 league, 2 cup games
Curtis Osana, Simon Golbourne, Micheal Dobson all 1 game

The next in the list of appearances is Long on 15. So basically 17.

[stealthpapes]

As I said above, I think we need x2 cb's (might be able to get away with one, if we have a youngster ready) a striker and possibly a lb

Think CB, utility defender, striker, another attacker is my personal list.

probably in that order as well.

I haven't got a grasp on which youngsters are ready to step up but one of the things I did enjoy last season was the early rounds of the cups and seeing them play 'for real'.