On Friday 15th May 2026, Blues announced their released and retained list, whilst this is a usual thing for the club there were a few notable names on the released list. Osman, Beadle and Doyle were to be expected, after all they were loan deals and the likelihood is we won’t see them return. Although there are rumours of Beadle joining permanently, I personally do not see us paying the rather large, incredibly inflated fee for him.
Panzo didn’t do enough in my opinion to justify a longer contract, whilst there were glimpses of a player who was a Championship level player not so long ago, I feel those days have passed him by.
It is the name of Jhon Solis that has caused a real stir within the fanbase, we were lead to believe that a deal was in place with Girona to secure his services at the end of the season, and whilst this still could be potentially done, it seems very odd that we as a club would announce his departure. Solis, I firmly believe if given the correct guidance could be one of the best signings we have made in years, yet he seems to be jetting back to Spain to resume his career in La Liga. It is certainly something to keep an eye on, if the deal is to sign him permanently at the beginning of July, in order to bypass any PSR issues that may arise from signing him this season, then of course it is a clever move, but if it is as thought that he will be heading back to Spain then I feel this is a mistake by our recruitment team and as we are all aware the spotlight is on them this summer to deliver after two promising windows that have delivered quite poorly bar a few names.
As far as recruitment goes, this for me is the biggest test for Gardner and and his team, for every Klarer he has unearthed, there has been a Robinson, and the less said about the mystifying case of Patrick Roberts the better. Gardner has a lot to prove, we are now incredibly light in key positions, Goalkeeper, centre midfield and left wing to name a few. It will be an interesting summer, there’s not much rumoured activity at the moment so I can’t comment on who I would like to see at the club, mainly because it’s difficult to see who is actually out there.
More worryingly for me is that only two players from the academy that have been offered new deals, and both are young goalkeepers. Our academy has had a really mixed time since the likes of James, the Bellingham Brothers and Odin Bailey made it through into the first team. Last season only Zaid Betteka stood out as a player to view for the future. If we are to be believed that we are a category A academy then hopefully the talent producing will return to its recent days of bringing through high quality players.
So, now we wait. Let’s see what summer brings. Until next time.
Keep Right On!
Andrew