05 Aug 2026 12:25:40
Good afternoon fellow blues,
So I'm just wandering what people’s views are with regards to strikers.
If realistically we can only bring one new starting 11 striker in who would everyone want that's realistically within our budget and is potentially available, no stupid names that are well out of our reach financially etc.
Also that would mean keeping one of Beto or Barry, now in an ideal world it would be great to get rid of both and bring two new strikers in but that’s unlikely so who out of Beto and Barry would you keep as back up and why?
05 Aug 2026 12:44:15
I think Delap on loan would be my first choice, maybe with an option to buy. It would give us some flexibility. I would also keep Barry over Beto, whilst I love Beto's attitude, he's had three seasons now and it's obvious he's not good enough.
Barry has only had one season and deserves more time. I am sure others will disagree, I just can't see who else we could realistically sign.
05 Aug 2026 12:50:43
If you don't bid for players, you will never know if they are available or not. We don't seem to put any bids in for anyone decent, we could at least try, and if we do put bids in and they get knocked back, then that's business, move on to the next one.
05 Aug 2026 13:19:52
I've got a feeling we will not bring in any strikers this window.
05 Aug 2026 13:41:55
It's the rb that we need next. Perhaps Roma could loan us one.
05 Aug 2026 12:48:10
I'd keep Beto because Barry is absolutely useless and has a bad attitude at least Beto try's his heart out when he comes off the bench and wants to do well.Barry jogs around like a headless chicken and offers nothing.We need to get rid of Barry asap even if it means losing money
05 Aug 2026 14:42:03
I think there needs to be some fairness given to Beto. We all know he is not the most competent footballer, but the lad has scored 9 goals and 8 goals in half a season's worth of minutes in the last 2 seasons. Give him a full season and his numbers would be 16-18 goals, which is not bad at all.
That being said, as a footballer, he does appear to have his fair share of limitations.
Col, it all depends on the budget that we have to bring a striker in. If we had around the 40m mark, then I would go after any of the below.
Asllani
Kofane
Ange-Yoan Bonny
Francesco Pio Esposito
Nikola Krstovic
If we had around the 25m mark.
Kevin Denkey
Franculino Dju
Promise David
Tim Lemperle
Mateo Pellegrino
Other than that, I think it would be wise to hang on and get a player in from one of the top clubs who need to offload, maybe on a loan or loan to buy deal.
Nicolas Jackson
Emmanuel Emegha (wanted him from Strasbourg before Chelsea got him) .
05 Aug 2026 15:39:07
I'm with Swinners. Sell Beto as he's in the last year of his contract anyway, and bring Delap in with an option to buy. Emmanuel Emegha is a good shout too if he's available.
05 Aug 2026 16:08:16
Unless we sell either Beto or Barry, then we won't get any new strikers in. We still need an RB, and think this will still be the priority for now.
If we could get rid of McNeil and Charly, then we may get another winger.
We need to raise funds and free up spaces. We haven't brought any money in over the past three windows.
Otherwise I doubt there'll be much more business.
{Ed025's Note - i hope not John, we are desperate for a striker as well as a right back mate..
05 Aug 2026 19:38:14
Firstly I would keep Barry as backup and sell Beto, mainly for the reason that Beto has had 3 seasons and is still yet to find his feet in the Premier League while Barry is younger and has only had 1 season here and could potentially still improve over time.
I have 2 options who we could go for as our main striker.
Arnaud Kalimuendo would be one I'd look at. He's currently back at Nottingham Forest after signing from Rennes for around £26m in August 2025 and spending the second half of last season on loan at Frankfurt. Forest only got 2 goals from him in 14 appearances before that loan, but his previous record in France shows there is a goalscorer there with 40 goals and 14 assists in 112 games for Rennes, including 18 goals in 34 appearances in his final season there, and at 24 he's still got plenty of development in him. Frankfurt actually had an option to buy him for around £23m but didn't take it up, so I'd imagine an offer somewhere around £23-30m could at least get Forest talking.
He's reportedly only on around £30k a week at Forest, so even a substantial increase to around £40-50k a week would be very manageable for us.
I'd choose him because he's quick, makes intelligent runs in behind, works hard without the ball and is a much more mobile type of number nine than Beto and Barry.
My other option would be Georges Mikautadze, he would be the more ambitious of the two and probably my preference if we were prepared to spend a little more. He's 25 and plays for Villarreal, having joined them from Lyon in September 2025 for a deal reported around €30m before completing an excellent first season in Spain with 15 goals and 6 assists from 42 appearances in 2025/26. His current market valuation is around €30m (roughly £26m) , although with Villarreal having invested heavily in him and contracted him until 2031, I think we would realistically need to put something in the region of £35–45m on the table before they'd seriously consider selling rather than expecting to get him for his market value.
His wage for Villarreal is roughly £76, 000 a week, so a budget around £80–90k a week to convince him to make the move to the Premier League.
He's the one I'd push hardest for because he's already a proven goalscorer, technically excellent, intelligent around the penalty area, capable of creating his own chances rather than relying entirely on service, and can play either through the middle or from the left.
If we're looking for someone to come in and genuinely raise the level rather than simply provide competition for Beto or Barry, Mikautadze is much closer to the calibre I'd want us to be targeting.
{Ed025's Note - good information that OS, but i would not buy the guy from Villareal mate purely on the basis that we got Barry from them, we paid them £27m for that bag of crap and once bitten twice shy mate..
05 Aug 2026 20:16:37
I get where you're coming from ed, but I don't think it's fair to judge one player because of another from the same club.
Barry not working out wouldn't automatically mean Mikautadze would be the same.
Every transfer has to be judged on its own merits and for me, Mikautadze has a much stronger body of work, he's already proven himself in multiple leagues, has consistently produced goals, and at 25 is coming into his peak years.
I wouldn't let the fact we bought Barry from Villarreal put me off.
{Ed025's Note - yeah i was being a bit pedantic there OS..