Summer Transfer Window

[Martyn - Derwydd]

Santos - comments from another clubs forum who played against him in League 1, and, I am unable to find anything about Bolton trying to keep him by working on a new contract over the last year.

Harry Darling is still on our retained list cos we are trying to keep him. Santos did not make Boltons retained list, aka bye bye on your way son

Forum comments:

He's utter dog. Has Pete O'Rourke literally copied and pasted the text he received from Santos' agent or what!

Has to be agent garbage, wouldn’t have even wanted him if we’d been relegated.

My wife is a Bolton fan. She would LOVE it if he came to us. It would give her a season of laughter.

On the decline. Ask Bolton season ticket holders and they wouldn’t mind letting him go, and that’s at League One standard.

A step down from Sonny Bradley. Dreadful defender.

Yeah. He looked an absolute blunderbuss at our place

He was gash when we played them in League 1

 

[Neath_Jack]

It’s going to be a looooooooong close season

 

[bytholwyn]

Thiago Silva joined Chelsea at the age of 36 and promptly won the Champions league. He's still playing for Fluminese at the age of 40. Sergio Ramos starred for Real Madrid well into his 30s before moving to PSG. He's still playing at 39. Van Dijk, soon to be 34 has just been offered a two year extension by Liverpool. Our very own Ashley Williams was 31 when he starred for Wales at Euro 2016. 30 is the prime age for a centre back.

As for Santos, his average Fotmob rating in the two seasons prior to the one just finished was 7.2 in both. In 2024/25 that dropped to a still creditable 7.0. So, unless the pelvic injury that sidelined him for much of the second half of the season proves to be chronic, there is no basis objectively in saying he's over the hill. I'm confident that we will look closely at his performances and fitness before offering him a contract, which we will obviously do with all prospective signings.

 

[ABSwan]

Thiago Silva joined Chelsea at the age of 36 and promptly won the Champions league. He's still playing for Fluminese at the age of 40. Sergio Ramos starred for Real Madrid well into his 30s before moving to PSG. He's still playing at 39. Van Dijk, soon to be 34 has just been offered a two year extension by Liverpool. Our very own Ashley Williams was 31 when he starred for Wales at Euro 2016. 30 is the prime age for a centre back.

As for Santos, his average Fotmob rating in the two seasons prior to the one just finished was 7.2 in both. In 2024/25 that dropped to a still creditable 7.0. So, unless the pelvic injury that sidelined him for much of the second half of the season proves to be chronic, there is no basis objectively in saying he's over the hill. I'm confident that we will look closely at his performances and fitness before offering him a contract, which we will obviously do with all prospective signings.

You keep giving examples of Champion racehorses to compare to a cart horse lol. Sorry shouldn’t disrespect Santos, but there’s no comparison between a player at the top of the game aging and maintaining at a level or starying to go to lower levels and a player reaching that point and moving to a higher league than he’s ever played in.

 

[Swanjaxs]

I have a feeling we are all going to be pleasantly surprised after the summer transfer window shuts. As for Harry Darling, I hope he and his bank balance will be very happy. #alfiemawson

 

[Colin-swansea]

Silva was found wanting on many occasions for his lack of pace but when his team mates are all of a younger, faster and capable footballer its no wonder they won trophies.
Santos won't be signing for the Swans to be a bit part player and unless Cabango is on his way the two of them at centre backs will be a recipe for disaster.

 

[bytholwyn]

Silva was found wanting on many occasions for his lack of pace but when his team mates are all of a younger, faster and capable footballer its no wonder they won trophies.
Santos won't be signing for the Swans to be a bit part player and unless Cabango is on his way the two of them at centre backs will be a recipe for disaster.

That's a very strong opinion unless you've seen a lot of Santos.

If Santos comes it will be as a backup, and he will be aware of that. I don't think he's in a position to demand a starting position in a Championship side unless it's a recently promoted side, such as Charlton.

 

[Martyn - Derwydd]

The WOW signing I spoke of 2 weeks ago. Now you have another source for the same.

"what we expect to be a ‘big signing’ coming in this closed season"

 

[bytholwyn]

You keep giving examples of Champion racehorses to compare to a cart horse lol. Sorry shouldn’t disrespect Santos, but there’s no comparison between a player at the top of the game aging and maintaining at a level or starying to go to lower levels and a player reaching that point and moving to a higher league than he’s ever played in.

There are countless examples in the lower leagues of centre halves who play into their mid thirties. Ben Tozer, of Wrexham, has just retired aged 35. I'm surprised that anyone would argue the point. It's a well established truism that centre halves peak later and generally have longer careers, because their position doesn't involve the same amount of sprinting as say a full back.

 

[Nice to Michu]

Said it at the time and il say it again now . Darling is staying

 

[bakajack]

Will be a very interesting two months ahead of us thats for sure

According to the Independent the owners are pushing the boat out quite a lot in terms of ambition and signings and used that as a big selling point for Harry Darling who genuinely still doesn't know whether or not to stay or leave but apparently has now made a decision and it will be announced sometime this week.

 

[Martyn - Derwydd]

Said it at the time and il say it again now . Darling is staying

Me too. We both may still be wrong but

 

[Nice to Michu]

Me too. We both may still be wrong but

The stuff posted by Indy is correct. He’s had plenty of offers which he always wanted to look at but his wife especially didnt want to move . I’ve also been told expect good activity this summer even after the wow signing

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

FFP

Yeah because that's stopped the other clubs spending hasn't it

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

It's not they choose not to, it's because Financial Fair Play rules prevent them from doing so.

Unless they significantly increase our revenues, we are not going to be able to spend bigger money, unless we fancy a fine and/or points deductions. It's as simple as that.

so how close are we to the limit then? Or is ffp something handy to hide behind when it comes to buying better players. What are the figures?