Nordic Saint

David John is just Sporting Life's betting expert. He's from Leeds and, unlike one of the Daily Mail reporters, doesn't have any issues with Saints.

What a great buy. He's the stikrer I've wanted us to buy for the last couple of years. We could have got him for less than half that price last year too.

Fonte won't really want to go to Everton but the club might want the big money they get offered and cash in on him while they still can and if it's made clear to him he's not really wanted here, he'll go. Later the PR spin on it will be that the player was greedy and looking for a last big pay day. He will be a massive loss to the team this season if he is sold.

Spot on. It is ridiculous, when matches are sold out, that there is a swathe of empty seats on the halfway line. The number allocated to executive boxes should be reduced.

Watford seem to have been very active in the transfer market, signing a few internationals. "The Hornets have also rejected a £37.5m bid from Shanghai SIPG for Odion Ighalo". Would we reject a bid that big for any of our players? http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer-centre/article/168/10331106/watford-sign-isaac-success-from-granada-for-club-record-fee

I thought it was quite d ecent performance today, especially the 2nd half. Fonte's influence on the team is enormous. Everything seems to start from him at the back. I was pleasantly surprised by Pied. He looks a tidy player and I'd expect him to be an improvment on Martina. Hojbjerg is a very good passer. Some of his long, crossfield passes reminded me of Liam Brady. Tadic looked very uncomfortable in his new position. It jsut doean't suit him. Sadly, Rodriguez looks the same as he did at the end of last season. I really wonder if he is ever going to be the player he was before he got injured. Austin came close to scoring a couple of times, which is promising. But, we very clearly need a nother pacy striker and I'm sure Puel knows that. Let's hope we get a good one and not Zaza. Overall, better than expected so I'm feeling a bit more confident about the Watford game.

Transfer fees are rising rapidly. He'll be worth at least 80 million in future. Next year we could have got 50 million for him. I was expecting this year to be his breakthrough season but more importantly for him to help us win a trophy. He's going to keep improving for the next few years. He certainly looks a better porspect than Bale did when we sold him. A player as gifted as Mane is virtually irreplaceable. We'll be very lucky to see a player that good playing for Southampton in the next 20 years. Selling him so soon, when he still had 2 years left on his contract, was a huge mistake. For those who say he doesn't try, bullsh!t. He gave 100% effort every time he took the pitch for Southampton and he would have continued to do so if we hadn't sold him.

He's certainly one of the most exciting players I've seen play for Saints in more than 50 years of going to games. Who would you rather have in your team, Mané or Pogba? I'd take Mané. He reminds me a lot of Luis Suarez. I understand the argument that have to sell our best players to the big clubs but I always think we sell them a year too soon. Young players like Mané increase rapidly in value, so even with just one year left on his contract, we'd have got a lot more for him next summer than we did this one.

Clyne, Lovren, Lallana and Mané in a side beating Barcelona at Wembley. I think within 2 years Mané will go to Barcelona or Madrid for 100 million. He's iimproving all the time and I'd have expected 20+ goals from him this season if we'd kept him. He could one day rival Bale as the best player we ever sold.

No rational person could. It's all a bit like the Stepford Wives.

Good, then maybe you can finally stop posting pathetic insults at everyone who disagrees with you. I just clicked on your previous posts and they were all pretty much the same childish stuff. It's ironic that you posted this, isn't it? by Fan The Flames Replies 3,436 Views 535,708 I'm assuming from your user name and your mild aggression that you have a very small ****.

When I saw the fixture list, I thought great, we've got Watford at home in our opening game. We could win that 4-0. This is our chance to go top of the Premier League for the first time in our history. It's a very small milestone I know but one I was looking forward to and it would give us some momentum. I'm still hoping we can pull it off. But, the loss of both Mane and Pelle and the lack of a replacement so far makes it look less likely. Even if we do bring a new striker in, it would probably be too late for him to play in our first game. We seem to have left our pre-season planning and transfer dealings a bit late this year. When last season ended, I couldn't wait for this one to begin and my expectations were that we would finish 5th this season, do well in Europe and possibly even win a cup. I think most fans shared those expectations after the 4-1 win v Palace. Season ticket sales soared and those initial sales before the loss of Koeman, Wanyama, Mane and Pelle, mean that most games will sell out this season. But, after the losses of those key players, as well as the manager some of that optimism was lost. I think this summer could have been handled better by the club. But, I'm still hoping they've got it right and we can pick up this season where we left off in May.

Totally agree. The last 3 seasons we have progressed: 8th, 7th, 6th. So, we should be aiming for 5th this season to maintain that steady progress. I concede that because of our smallish stadium size we only get the 12th biggest gates in the country but we have, apart from a short spell in the late 70s/early 80s and the last few seasons, arguably been throughout our history, for our size, one of the most underachieving clubs in the country. Most clubs of our size have a spell in their history when they win a few trophies. I feel that now is our opportunity to do just that. We should not let it slip away. It might be decades before we get another chance like this.

This is about all there is on him on Google: https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.zerozero.pt/player.php%3Fid%3D418747&prev=search

It's unusual for you not ro resort to personal abuse or the lowest form of wit. But, the improvment is appreciated. What we've seen of his play since he came back from his injury. I like him and think it was a real tragedy that he got injured when he did. But, since he's come back he doesn't look as sharp or as dangerous in front of goal as he was. I really hope he improves.

We seem to be targetting players who are available for 10 million or less and, sadly, nowadays, very few Premier League class players are. We might get lucky with one and a couple of others will probably be disappointments. I wonder to what extent the so-called Black Box decisions were down to Paul Mitchell. Our last really great signing, Van Dijk, was identified during his time here as we had been linked with him for more than a year. I doubt that the likes of Martina, Steckelenburg and Clasie were. Pied and McCarthy seem to have more in common with them. Redmond and Hojbjerg may be good. Let's hope they're in the Van Dijk class. I guess we'll find out this season from how Saints and Spurs respective signings turn out whether the Black Box room, with its videas and scouting reports, is a standalone sytem or whether the head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell, was the really crucial factor. There is still such a massive amount of PL prize/TV money and money from players sold in the kitty that maybe the club will concede it can afford to go up to 20 million for one key player. i think we definitely need one to replace both Mane and Pelle. Based on the available evidence, I can't see Rodriguez and Austin both lasting a full season and in the case of Rodriguez we've seen nothing yet to suggest he's the player he was before he got inhjured..

Give him a break. He's probably been occupied with travel arrangements, settling back in at home and starting training again. I guess Les Reed is the one who decides who gets the PR interviews and photo ops, not Fonte.

A very interesting post and much more persuasive than the posts of those who make sarcastic remarks and hurl personal insults at anyone who has a different point of view to theirs.

Fonte certainly wouldn't be sitting on the bench. He'd be the first choice central defender wherever he went, including Manchester United. As we saw in the European Champoinship finals, central defenders are at their peak in their early 30s, and Fonte is currently one of the best in Europe. Admittedly, the only thing that isn't at its peak at that age is the transfer fee so let's hope we don't decide to cash in for a paltry 10 million. His value to our team is worth much more than that.

Swansea, West Brom and Valencia have all bid for Borja Baston. Whoever wins will get a young striker who was one of the top scorers in La Liga last season. Like Vincent Janssen, he would have been a great buy for us.

That would certainly apply to Kat if she and Les sold Fonte.

Mourinho wants an experienced, world class centre back for Manchester United. Hopefully, we will say no, no matter how much they offer. He is the backbone of our team: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-transfer-news-rumours-8531884

The sums may seem ridiculous compared to what we earn in our everyday lives but it is a professional, not an amateur or even semi-professional sport, and anything which draws worldwide TV audiences, whether it's F1 Grand Prix racing, boxing, tennis or Hollywood movies, generates massive sums of money in commercial revenue. When I started watching football, I never dreamed the day would come when a footballer would cost 1 million, let alone 100 million but that's inflation for you. There are plenty of small amateur teams that would welcome your support if you want to watch players who don't earn lots of money. The owners of professional football clubs, like those of race horses, F1 Grand Prix teams etc are, and always have been, very rich people, who get into it for the fame and the glory it brings them and to compete against other wealthy owners, or in the case of old school owners like Jack Walker to plough some of their wealth back into the local community.

Is there any example of a team which has largely played its own Academy products being successful in the Premier League in recent years? Ia league which features some of the best players from all over the world, an over reliance on young English players could lead to us having a very uncompetitive team. You could see that Koeman did his best to accommodate Targett last season, even playing Bertrand behind him to cover for his defensive inadequacies, but Targett was something of a liability and I was relieved when he was dropped as he was costing us points. Perhaps I'm cynical but I get the impression that the main reason Reed wants our Academy products to feature more in the first team is to get them into the shop window as soon as possible because all of the ones who've been good enough to attract buyers in the past, like Shaw and Chambers, have been sold at the first available opportunity. Although if Ward-Prowse, Gallagher, Reed and Targett had been sold this summer, rather than Mane, Wanyama and Pelle, we'd have had a much stronger squad. I doubt that any other Premier League club considered them good enough to bid for though. Personally, I'd just like to see us field the strongest team possible and that's what Koeman did most of the time last season. Following the sale of Mane and Pelle, we look to be short of a striker. Pity we didn't go for Vincent Janssen but Carlos Bacca and Borja Baston are still available.

He's more athletic than Kelvin Davis and less crippled by injuries than Steckelenberg. But, he doesn't seem to have the mentality to concentrate for a whole game, and the degree of concentration required from a PL goalkeeper is exceptional.