Southampton Rumours

30 Jan 2026 15:45:25
Any credible transfer rumours?

31 Jan 2026 13:37:18
Only on players leaving, nothing on incoming. I think they’re trimming the wage bill ( by up to 250k plus NI a week) and planning for next season already.

31 Jan 2026 16:31:12
I make you right @2408

31 Jan 2026 19:20:36
In truth, if they can cut their wage bill by 17 million a year plus complete the sales of Ramsdale Sugawara BBD ABK and Bazunu they’ll be financially fine for season 2 in championship. They’ll also have about 35 million for purchases. It’s crucial they secure Bree and Stewart on new contracts because to replace them like for like would cost 8-10 million plus they both have a point to prove.
I haven’t mentioned TBH AA Archer Edozie Aribo because there is so much uncertainty atm.

31 Jan 2026 19:48:04
Aribo off, potentially Archer or Armstrong, maybe THB, that’ll clear three of our highest earners and potentially get £25m in. Would allow us half a season to take stock and attack the window early which we never seem prepared for. All for it if that’s the plan and not splunking £20m on some rubbish from Ligue 2.

31 Jan 2026 19:53:35
No way will Ross Stewart get another contract. Unless he stays injury free till the end of the season but that would be like winning the lottery. Not going to happen

31 Jan 2026 20:12:51
Effectively he’d be a free transfer if offered a new contract, I think that would make total sense. Give him a 3 year appearance and performance based contract, he is a quality player whom fit and on the market would fetch 7 million plus, a contract wouldn’t cost the same.
How much has Downs Archer Adams AA Boufal Sulemana Carrillo etc etc cost the club over recent years?

31 Jan 2026 20:46:55
He is almost 30. His injury’s will only increase.

As of the most recent available statistics, Ross Stewart (signed by Southampton FC on 1 September 2023) has made approximately:

• 27 senior appearances for Southampton FC across all competitions (league plus cup) from his debut in November 2023 through part of the 2025-26 season.

This includes:
• 3 Championship appearances in 2023-24 after joining (all as substitute) .
• 12 Premier League appearances in 2024-25 (including 4 starts) .
• 12 Championship appearances in 2025-26 so far.

31 Jan 2026 22:08:24
All we can hope is that he is over the terrible run of injuries he’s had to endure. He is a top quality performer at championship level, he would also be a useful bench player in the premier league.

02 Feb 2026 11:32:13
Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, I also think he is a good player but it hasn't exactly worked out for him. I would say if he can stay fit and get us some goals in the remaining games it might get him a move to another club as his contract will be up in June.

23 Jan 2026 19:31:19
Barry Bannan! Inspired signing by Alex Neil, he has been one of the best midfielders in championship for many years, forget his age just look at his stats.

30 Nov 2025 23:57:42
Might sound crazy but I'm actually glad for the loss at Millwall.

Let's be honest Tonda has to be up there in contention for the job BUT and this is the important part, the only thing that brought him into that contention was this recent run we were on.

Now I know I bang on about the managerial bounce but part of the reason I believe in it is because the guy who takes over gets to unshackle the team by going in and just letting them play a lot more free then we're.

This can only go on for so long though and eventually man management/tactics have to come back into play, otherwise anyone of us here could take charge.

I'm not saying that Tondas reign has all been the managerial affect, not at all. But there definitely was some of watch I mention occuring. So when I say I was happy for the loss it means we get to see how well Tonda and his team adapts to loss and rightly so. I think he would have been giving the job if we had won at the wknd but I think anyone who gets paid the amount they do should be judged on their losses as well as their wins and how they adapt to them.

I'm hoping that right now SR are looking at Tonda and asking wether his wins were down to his management or just the effects of taking over I'm hoping if it's the latter they are continuing their search.

If it was me I'd sit down with Tonda and see what kind of signings he wants to make in January and wether the board approves of them. I'd even hold of giving him the job even if he's doing well until January. I'd keep the search going and of there's no one out there who can match Tonda (i.e. Tondas doing a great job) then gets it's. I think too many times in recent history SR has given the job to anyone who strings two results together, hopefully their learning is all I hope for.

03 Dec 2025 20:55:21
I tend to completely agree Lesleee, which feels a bit weird. Birmingham at home is a perfect test to see if we have the bounce back ability.

Remember this is at least a top 6 side and we should be performing as much, but this will include losses and as you say a lot depends on our reaction.

03 Nov 2025 19:23:06
Rumours are Romeu is coming home!

Would welcome that leadership and grit.

05 nov 2025 09:29:02
quick and no nonsense answer is steve cooper, still out of work. did brilliantly for forest to take them up. probably not quite premier class yet. should be able to at least stabilise us. shippie

06 Nov 2025 03:27:53
Pretty good call shippie. KOM.

22 Sep 2025 11:02:14
Ah, now saint's ggg, you're twisting what I said 😎

I did argue a case for keep RM after last year's dismissal season BUT I said it would come with some caveats. The main one being that the club spend the time were working on promotion back to the premiership to find the right manager we need to take us forward .and whenever that man is found not to hesitate or spare RMs blushes.

That is because just like players some mangers are suited to certain leagues/levels so too are managers. Whilst RM wouldn't have been a popular choice he would be back in a league with players he knew playing a style that is more forgiving in the championship. Even as stubborn as he is he would have learned a few things and I do feel we would have been up with the leading pack again.

Instead we have a new manager now, that has to go through the whole process of wether he feels the players he has can make it in the championship.whereas RM would have the players he knew and the ones who were the stars of the promotion the year before. I mean RM finally realised what I said all along about Bazuna and yet it seems like Still is going to waste the whole season conceeding goals until he figures out the same thing, Bazuna doesn't cut it.



One of the endless criticisms of RM was that he was stubborn and not change things and now we have a manager the opposite of that and yet 🤷. When Will Stills name was being touted alongside Danny Rohls I didn't see much rejection and I saw a lot of people saying we've finally got a proper manager and yet the results have yet to come.

My point is a manger people didn't like DID get us promotion, whereas Still were unsure of. I do think Still will (pun) be decent enough but wether he's the massive turnaround everyone was hoping for I'm not sure.

I remember Guernsey boy saying things couldn't get any worse once upon a time, he's no longer around suprise suprise, but I said at the time they most definitely can and in sacking RM I forecast a foreseeable future as mid championship at best. My point of RM was that at least we'd get back to the premiership, than we could sack him.

As you're aware I said that many months back, but here's an article in SaintsMarching today saying pretty much the same thing.

23 Sep 2025 16:08:17
Erm, if this is in reference to a comment on another thread then all I said was you mentioned that Martin would guarantee promotion. You did mention this, so no twisting here .

Why would he? We were promoted in spite of Martin, not because of him. He has one promotion on his CV I believe, of a side that should be challenging for automatic promotion and finished 4th.

I also said he is probably better than Still and Juric but he (Martin) certainly wouldn’t guarantee anything except boredom.

24 Sep 2025 10:06:45
There's never a guarantee to anything, but yes I undoubtedly said he was our best foreseeable chance of getting promoted straight away . Not because I liked him or thought he was a decent manager, simply because he did previously despite that and with the same team. He knew the players and league. The same way I knew Juric was a bad choice for being sacked by the same team 3 times. Instead we've rolled the dice with still and despite you guys thinking I'm crazy/obtuse I posted the link to show others say the same thing now.months after I initially predicted it 🤷


RM is out of his depths in a lot of areas but if immediate return to premier league is what we wanted whilst spending the time looking for a long term manager whilst doing so, like I say it would have been worth keeping hold of RM for that singular purpose

14 Aug 2025 16:37:48
Ed's, do you have any knowledge on the is he or isn't he coming to Saints. Edourd Spertsyan. Looks class but conflicting reports.

{Ed001's Note - sorry no idea, my apologies.}

15 Aug 2025 06:57:31
No problem and thanks

{Ed001's Note - you are welcome, sorry I can't help you.}

28 Jul 2025 17:43:06
Sorry to see Jan Bednarek to leave, always liked him as a player. I feel some criticism against him was unjustified. Ramsdale looks like he's off, I hope it works out well for him, another player who I feel always tried his best
My worries are : AA has been woeful preseason following on from the same whilst on loan at WBA, Brereton Diaz ditto but with Sheffield Utd. Archer also has not stamped a claim on a strikers spot and WS doesn't seem to rate Stewart.
From what I am told no club has moved heaven and earth for Dibling but today Brentford have enquired but want a deal much lower than Saints valuation. Ipswich have enquired about Downes, Rangers want Fraser not Edozie. Ajax want Sugawara on loan and Birmingham want Edwards but Saints are not going to sell him.
Interest is starting to hot up.

28 Jul 2025 23:52:30
Given the absolute state of last season, anyone being sold wouldn’t upset me too much. If we get money in from them, it allows Still to build his own team. I imagine we are as always tight with the figures so need to sell to buy, but the more we get out of the door the more quality we can hopefully get in.

Dibling will go, so will Ramsdale - they’re too good not to. THB, Sugawara, ABK, Downes, Armstrong, Diaz and Archer aren’t as good as they think they are, but would all be handy in the Championship. Any of them going wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I still think we will get a lot of movement - the big clubs are sorting out their front lines, meaning the mid table clubs will then use the cash they have to sort theirs, and will look to find deals or spend big on quality - once that’s done, they’ll buy in other areas. As we don’t fall into the first category, it’s just a waiting game or seeing what interest we get overseas.

We need a GK, RB, CM, CAM. With Ramsdale and Dibling money, we should be able to do that. I don’t think they will go for CBs - we bought potential players two years ago in Edwards and Wood - and we have five strikers on the books all of similar quality. We won’t be able to afford to splash out for more.

Problem area for years has been in attacking midfield - we haven’t had a properly good winger since Mane left - but if still goes back 3 then it’ll be more on #10s hence the importance of Fernandes, though I think he may be off too, purely for the fact that we could double or triple our money in a year.

Two weeks to Wrexham, I think we’ll be unpleasantly surprised by a 1-2 loss!

29 Jul 2025 10:34:09
It’s deeply worrying. Broadly speaking, we’re looking to off load the better half of the squad, recoup some money and rebuild. All that with a novice manager and a pool of players who struggle to beat Eastleigh among others. Granted, they were pretty meaningless friendlies but nevertheless one looks for green shoots of optimism. Nothing.

So what baffles me, is how some of our respected posters on this forum believe we are strong candidates for promotion? Our squad was far better last time round when we dropped into the Championship.

This time, as I’ve repeatedly said, we are mid-table at best. As I said, deeply worrying.

29 Jul 2025 16:04:44
I still think we have a good shot at promotion. Our defence is more inexperienced than last time but a Downes, Charles and Fernandes midfield would be solid. Robinson is a good upgrade on Edozie. We have a fit (for now) Stewart, plus Archer, Armstrong and Downs so 4 good 2nd div strikers vs 2 last time.

I can see a slow mid table start as the team and manager adjust then climbing up to the playoffs with our superior squad depth and fitness over the winter months.

With Saints nothing would surprise me though and depends who stays, fights and finds form.

29 Jul 2025 17:37:24
If you’re right (and I hope that you are) the January window will be key. By then we should know where the gaps are and who can and cannot cut it. I think a lot will hang on whether we see the Armstrong of old or the latest version - slow in mind and second best in challenges.

30 Jul 2025 04:52:44
Completely agree @Millertime

A lot will depend on 5 things
1. If our strikers can replicate previous Championship successes
2. If players that excelled at mid table sides like Edwards, Charles and Wood can perform at top 5 level
3. How fast an almost new 11 vs last season, plus young manager can gel
4. How well Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry and Wrexham perform
5. Who comes in and who goes in the summer and Jan.

10 sides have a shot at promotion. I am hedging my bets and predicting 5th/6th behind Ipswich, Leicester, Sheffield Utd and Birmingham, plus maybe Coventry/Wrexham.

30 Jul 2025 08:53:21
Birmingham have recruited very well, could be a dark horse for top 6 finish

30 Jul 2025 17:10:02
It’s definitely a hard league to call.

Outside of Southampton, fans across the other clubs are tipping Saints as one of the favourites to go up.

Which can be a hindrance if we set up to not lose rather than go out to win games.

That winning mentality has been a scarce commodity of late and I just hope that Will can boost confidence levels.

Each day brings news of other leavers - Rambo all but gone and a surge of interest in Fernandes.

What will give me nightmares is seeing McCarthy back in goal.

Still 10 days to go!