2026-27 Recruitment Plan for Walton and Hersham

Player Decisions

Retain

Jos Barker, Cian Bolger, Elliott Bolton, Lucia D’Auria-Henry, Thabo Kuaho, Ethan Light, Stefan Parkes, Lucas Defise, Joey Jones, Anis Nuur, Mason Obeng, Johl Powell, Francis Amarety, Dawid Rogalski, Jack Wood, Joe Benett, Ben Acey, Aaron Williams Fernandez, Danny Ball

Release

Danylo Hubynets, Zach Alfalahi, Vonnte Williams

Loan End

Riley Horan, Kash Odiase, Mehki Savage

Retained Squad

New Signings

Riley Horan (AFC Wimbledon – free)

Before The Swans can even turn their attention to strengthening going into 2026-27, much of the work is to do with keeping what they have got. One of the key steps in those efforts is to try and retain the services of youngster Riley Horan on a permanent deal.

Horan enjoyed a successful loan spell with The Swans in 2025-26. One of the standout defenders at Step Three. He impressed as being mature and composed well beyond his years. A quiet customer, yet all the while classy. The 19-year-old is clearly a hugely talented player, with a bright future, destined to play higher, albeit The Swans will be hoping – for the short-term at least – that is with themselves. 

Recalled at the back end of 2025-26 due to injuries within The Dons’ camp, I do envisage a world in which he is allowed to leave the club in the summer. Maybe even a new permanent deal and another loan. Out of contract. Perhaps not ready to be playing or in and around the squad in the EFL. Maybe a case of just being a bit too early for where AFC Wimbledon are on their journey. Alas, The Swans will be trying to keep him. 

For the way that The Swans have played – mesmerising with their style of football – Horan has been an integral part of that at the heart of the defence. Extremely well-coached. Confident on the ball. Reads the game well. Mobile across the ground. Capable of stepping out into midfield. Taking risks. Playing out. Very much a modern-day defender. 

There is definitely work to do in terms of physical development, but I like a lot of what I see from the young defender. Retaining him would be a key piece of business, and be it on loan or on a permanent deal I think they will.

Harvey Broad (Coventry City – free)

Walton and Hersham have already been busy in the final few weeks of the campaign tying down players to new deals ahead of the National League South. One of those is Joe Bennett. An experienced professional. Copious amount of games in the Football League. Playing in the Championship as recently as 2025. Now 36 years of age. 

I think that he will prove himself as a really smart piece of business for The Swans in strengthening the leadership group, however I would have the question mark over potential fitness over a 46-game campaign. His speed and mobility, and ability to defend large spaces in transition. As such, I think that they should look to try and add a younger left-sided option. 

One player I have been impressed with is Harvey Broad. The youngster is one of the few bright sparks of an underwhelming Daggers side. Capable of playing as a centre-back, full-back, wing-back or anywhere down the left-hand side. Comfortable in possession. A good athlete. Fairly mobile and quick. He complements Bennett’s profile nicely. 

The 21-year-old may well be looking for the opportunity to play up a level after a productive loan spell with The Daggers, yet I still feel The Sky Blues would entertain the possibility of giving him a chance to play at Step Two. 

A player that has come through non-league at an early age with Chatham Town, he is someone that strikes me as being really mature for his age. A good professional. Receptive to information. Willing to learn. A fairly quick learner. A team player. The type of no-nonsense, hard-working player that always has value in a squad. 

He is a good size, perhaps physically competent beyond what they have currently got, and has a nice all-round skillset for a defender. He uses his body well in the carry. Can press and step in to engage. Got a good engine to carry through the thirds. Athletic. Physical. A lot to like, and in this Swans side I feel he’d be a success. 

Josh Tobin (Bromley – free)

As The Swans step up a division, I think that there will be greater emphasis and challenge in them being able to control games the way they so often have done at Step Three. Finding a #6 that can sit at the base of midfield, dictate the game and make clever use of the ball will – I feel – be important. 

Josh Tobin is a name that needs no introduction to Walton and Hersham fans. An ex-Swan. He enjoyed a loan spell at Yeovil Town in 2025-26 under former Swans boss Billy Rowley. I do feel there are merits to Tobin potentially making a return to the club during the summer. 

He has had his share of injuries, and found regular minutes hard to come by regardless, but I think that a return to Step Two and a club with which he has got familiarity will do him the world of good in being able to manage his minutes. Find his way back to form. Play as he knows he can do. 

As a player, Tobin is a deeper-lying midfielder. That lynchpin in possession to safeguard the backline. Doing the ‘dirty’ work. Winning balls back. Screening passing lanes. Receiving under pressure. Stopping transitions. Asserting himself with his physicality. That little bit of ‘nastiness’ which I think a technically proficient Swans side could do with to complement the existing midfield profiles that they have got at their disposal. At the very least, he has the recent experience of playing in this Swans side, and knows the way they play. 

With Bromley on their way to League One, opportunities for first-team minutes will be even more of a luxury than they were in 2025-26. I anticipate an exit. His former boss Rowley may well be intrigued as to the possibility of his signature, but I feel that a return to Walton and Hersham would be a good fit for the midfielder to get his mojo back.

Shiloh Remy (Worthing – free)

When picking out prospective signings, I think that the skill is in identifying players who have perhaps had a bit of a low period or come off the back of underwhelming form, yet why they might be a good stylistic fit for a team. In the case of Shiloh Remy, I feel that joining Walton and Hersham may be just that. 

I maintain Remy is a very talented player. A tricky spell with Dagenham and Redbridge. Time with a very direct and attritional Chelmsford City in 2025-26. Finding himself on the sidelines and out of the team at Worthing. A shadow of the player that dazzled during his spell at Eastbourne Borough as one of the standout players in the league. 

A diminutive attacking player, Remy is quick, direct, good feet, attacks space effectively, a competent dribbler and he uses his slight frame and acceleration to carry from deep. He creates separation between himself and his marker. Sufficiently nimble to go either way with quick changes of direction and drops of the shoulder. 

In a Walton and Hersham side who thrive on transitions, possession-based football and set-up with the confidence to play, I think Remy would be a strong fit. He could play in any of the forward positions behind the striker. I feel most effective as a #10 where he can pick up clever pockets on the half-turn. 

Worthing already have a strong attacking contingent at their disposal, and so Remy is one that I fully expect to be allowed to leave. Still only 25 years of age. A bit of a ‘project’. I would take the gamble.

Dom Johnson-Fisher (Truro City – free)

The Swans are a side that is built on strong technicians, and these players are typically shorter, trickier, more nimble operators. The likes of Jack Wood and Ben Acey. One profile that I think they could do with adding is perhaps a more physically imposing player. Someone that can offer an outlet in switching the play and on the diagonals. Something a little bit different. The solution that I have found on the market is Dom Johnson-Fisher. 

Originally from the South East, this would give him the opportunity to be closer to home and I think there is a value in that. 

He only played a bit-part role in Truro City’s promotion campaign in 2024-25 and yet when he played I think that he was a real threat. Especially effective coming on mid-game and utilising his long-legged, quick, direct running style in stretching teams and offering an option on the shoulder and attacking space. 

I think that Johnson-Fisher offers The Swans something to complement what they have got at their disposal. Quite a lot of their play is to-feet, structured and methodical in their building with patient and purposeful passing through the lines. Johnson-Fisher, however, is one that is a little more committal in his play. Takes risks. Wants to attack space. Penetrative with his runs. 

Johnson-Fisher is still only 22 years of age, and so has got a lot of room left for development in his game. Walton and Hersham has proven to be a happy hunting ground for young players to find their feet in the professional game, and so I feel it would be a good move for both parties.

Anointed Chukwu (Worthing – free)

The final player on this list is a bit of an outside-the-box suggestion given that he isn’t a goal-scoring #9, yet the type of facilitator profile that is completely the antithesis to The Swans philosophy that I think he would offer real value. 

Finishing the season at relegated Chippenham Town, Worthing forward Anointed Chukwu is about as far removed from the way that The Swans want to play as they could get. Not technically proficient, but an out-and-out target man. Physically strong. Good at holding the ball up back to goal. Wins fouls. Occupies defenders. 

If The Swans are to stay up in the National League South, I think that it is important that they build a squad that can ‘skin the cat’ in different ways, and having a completely different profile to that which they have currently would definitely be useful. The type to go direct into when under pressure. A little bit unorthodox. Difficult to play against. He gives The Swans that different element to their attack to the fashionable and stylish play that we have seen.

As a starter, I think that Chukwu definitely has flaws to his game. A profligate finisher in front of goal. Not the strongest technically. Yet, he is the type of player that Walton and Hersham can bring on to manage games. Play off. Use as a platform and a reference to get runners around. Managing games and being that little bit more street wise is something I think they are definitely going to have to learn to do. 

With the forward seemingly surplus at parent club Worthing, I think that he could represent a useful addition on a free transfer this summer.