the french scout

Yes you're right, that's what Monaco did for the last 2-3 seasons, but only because their owner lost a lot of money (half of it) during his divorce. The initial project was to buy confirmed players (Falcao, Moutinho, Ricardo Carvalho, Eric Abidal, Jérémy Toulalan, Dimitar Berbatov, ...).

The whole french Ligue 1 (except for Paris Saint Germain and Olympique de Marseille) is about developping young players then selling them. France is the second country (after Brazil) in number of players playing abroad. The most efficient clubs at this are Olympique Lyonnais and Stade Rennais. There is no club who really has a philosophy of quality football, french managers tend to prefer a defensive style. There were a good example of a club what had the "Southampton way", it was FC Nantes Atlantique before Waldemar Kita bought it and ripped apart all the development team and philosophy of offensive and pleasant football. Lille was bought last year by a new owner and it seems it will follow this philosophy. Marcelo Bielsa is the new coach and they bought a lot of young prospect this summer and last winter.

I'm not sure about Boufal skills being better than Boudebouz ones... Yes, Boudebouz is also a set pieces kicker, and it's a plus for him compared to Boufal... If you're talking about physical strength, yep Boufal is better, but Boudebouz is more physically similar to Mahrez so I don't think that's a big no no. And yes Boufal has more potential, but it's only "potential", he could also fail and stay an average player as he is now. With Boudebouz, you know what you buy.

IMO, Boudebouz is way better than Boufal. Boufal has in a way the same flaws as Ben Arfa, he always think he can win a game by himself and tries ridiculous dribbles. Boudebouz is a more mature player (he's 27yo) who love to dribble but who also know when passing is better. He scored 11 times this season but also delivered 9 assists in a terrible Montpellier team (15th) when Boufal scored 11 goals + 5 assists when Lille was 5th last year... Boudebouz = Boufal + better decision making + very good ability at passing + excellent set pieces.

I think that's what he meant. And Manchester clubs should fire Mourinho and Guardiola.

Another rumor about a Ligue 1 player : https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3386425/southampton-eye-toulouse-star-christopher-jullien-as-a-replacement-for-skipper-virgil-van-dijk/ Well, he's obviously not as good as VVD, but this guy impressed everybody for his first Ligue 1 season. He's physically impressive (1.96m, 86kg), he's almost impassable and can score (4 goals in Ligue 1 this season, 9 in Ligue 2 the previous one). Only 3 central defenders have a better rating than him on whoscored this season in Ligue 1 : Loïc Perrin, Thiago Silva and Paul Baysse (who will leave Nice...).

I think Boufal is a bit less fast and powerful but has better dribbling skills.

I only saw him twice so I cant' say a lot about him but he's indeed powerful and fast and he LOVES to dribble. His passing ability is not the best though. He's not a finish product yet but he could become a quite good player with a manager who knows how to work with young players. His 4 goals this season were all scored between september and november and the rest of the season was a bit more complicated for him but he's a regular starter in a French midtable team (Guingamp) at only 20yo. Also, he's a French U21 international.

Nobody reacted to that, so I post it again : https://www.clubcall.com/southampton/southampton-eye-coco-move-1847960.html A young french winger who can score... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrrf64Po8k8#t=1m02s

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premiership/southampton-premiership/southampton-lining-up-gamble-on-euro-based-talent-as-puel-looks-for-pl-advantage/

LOL

Actually the second choice, he is injured since late October. He's starter material, but I think he would sign to be on the bench and bring competition to Forster.

Apparently, Ntep will remplace Draxler at Wolfsburg. http://www.sofoot.com/ntep-sur-la-route-de-wolfsburg-437131.html

Even with the money from the new deal about TV rights ? Here in France, journalists and supporters were mad about this, saying even the Championship clubs could buy top players from Ligue 1.

I think the major problem about Newcastle wasn't they were buying players from Ligue 1 but buying bad or mediocre players from Ligue 1. Gouffran, Marveaux, Amalfitano, Rivière, Haidara, Obertan were "meh" at best, for instance. Rémy, Cabaye, Sissoko, Debuchy were quite good and are all international players. And then there were players like Thauvin, Ben Arfa, Yanga-Mbiwa or Cabella who are quite good but not very consistent and failed because they came in a cub where nothing was working and were quite young for the most of them. About the list I post earlier, I seriously think a club like Southampton can't buy players above Boufal (#10) and they will all play soon in big clubs, like Umtiti, Dembélé or Guerreiro already are. Just look at the top 15 from the previous season and tell me you don't want some of these guys at Southampton : 15 - Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), 14 - Paul-Georges Ntep (Rennes), 13 - Jordan Amavi (Aston Villa), 12 - Geoffrey Kondogbia (Inter Milan), 11 - Gianneli Imbula (Stoke City), 10 - Layvin Kurzawa (PSG), 9 - Divock Origi (Liverpool), 8 - Samuel Umtiti (FB Barcelona), 7 - Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea), 6 - Rony Lopes (Lille), 5 - Bernardo Silva (Monaco), 4 - Morgan Sanson (Montpellier), 3 - Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), 2 - Anthony Martial (Manchester United), 1 - Nabil Fékir (Lyon)