Dusic

You would assume wrong with £60m! Poor recruitment and contract management means we will probably be lucky to get £12-15m for KWP and pretty little else - certainly nowhere near £60m.

Have we still got the pitch disease from 2023? Considering a whole summer off it looked awful tonight. Used to be one of the best in the PL a few years ago but like most stuff at Saints is a shadow of its former self!

Imagine loan with option offers.

Fraser may well not be pursued (although I think he will) but regardless don't see why Dibling would be a factor in that as he plays different positions to Fraser, either as a no 8, false 9 or coming from wide right whereas Fraser has almost exclusively played as a left winger for us.

What do people think about Ryan Fraser? Seemingly Newcastle willing to let him go for free but Fraser wants his contract paying up which they havent agreed to. Feels like he would be a good squad player and handy he can do a job as a wing back if needed but on the other hand he wouldnt really improve the starting XI to the extent needed. Sure he will end up here on a free after we have played Newcastle.

I like Adam Blackmore and he does have a good relationship with the club so gets fed info but in this segment there was quite a bit of joining some dots that were quite far apart. On O'Riley specifically...his suggestion that Celtic should just hurry up and sell him to Saints is pretty bizarre. Its their perogative to do what they like with a player who they have signed to a long contract. With for absolute definite as a minimum Saints, Atalanta and Brighton in for him then the onus is surely on those clubs to push Celtic by making an acceptable offer rather than on Celtic to cave in with virtually a month left of the window? In the end someone will make that offer and I am pretty doubtful that it will be us which is a shame as the RM relationship gives us a potentially significant edge. All our deals so far have been easy ones aside from possibly Downes (and even then WHU were clearly open to sell to fund their spree). Everyone else it was either unwanted players, frees or players with a year left on contracts.

Buonanotte is a decent prospect but using a PL loan spot on a Brighton squad player without any kind of option to buy really shows where we are in the PL food chain. Come on you phytoplankton!

Brighton have already spent £30m or so on two players this summer and probably still have a good chunk of the Caicedo/Cucurella cash left over. As ever, the player will ultimately move where he wants to go and I'm sure if that isnt to Saints then RM will know as imagine MOR would treat him respectfully - and if thats the case we can go after others. Shame if that does happen as he seemed ideal but we probably aren't that attractive considering we are likely to get relegated again.

Bringing this topic back to the actual discussion point I think your point is very valid and the ability to put aside poor results is going to be very important. However I think the first game is slightly different in that following it we play a couple of those bottom half teams, ones that people feel if we are to stay up we will likely need to finish ahead of at least one of them. If we put in a terrible performance and get totally dismantled I think it makes it far less likely that we do well against those two, and certainly for the Forest game it would impact the atmosphere before we even start as the whole narrative will be that we will really struggle at this level. Our starting 7 or 8 fixtures are the best run (on paper) that we have all season so we really need to be ready to pickup points from the start and a heavy defeat wouldnt be a good marker for that.

Not exactly a hot take but even from watching 30mins of the Celtic game its clear how MOR would fit into our system, he is almost perfect for it. Obviously good technically but liked his movement off the ball too. After 10 mins Kilmarnock had only completed 6 passes...ridiculous league and he is clearly ready for a proper test. No suprise lots of teams want him.

Clubs know we will get desperate re KWP. Someone will get a bargain, I still think Brighton as they were linked earlier in the summer and barely have a senior RB in their squad besides injury prone Lamptey. In the end we will peobs take £10m to avoid him going for free. ABK we will probs just get loan offers as teams will be wary of his fitness record. Alcaraz, Sulemana etc the same because if they didnt shine in the Championship nobody is going to be chucking cash to us for them, will be loan with option again. We are poor at selling because we have been poor at buying (until maybe the last year). Not ideal for a club that is essentially reliant upon sales to fund incomings - especially in the days of PSR. We have so few really saleable assets and then always end up letting them get to 1 year left on contracts.

No point waiting for PL exposure - will be too late by then.

One of the best players in pre season and likely to be on the pitch in the first few games given how thin our squad is attack wise. Need to sign him up to a longer contract to protect what looks to be a top asset. Same with SAA too. These are the types that will solve future FFP issues.

Very hard in that shape to sustain possession in attacking areas as we largely saw in the playoffs when we did play that shape. Especially as we don't have a LB/LWB with the ability to be a threat in the final third (hoping Sugawara would be on the right). I imagine its the way we will go as our wingers are poor so easy decision to leave them out but we could defend well and the likes of Isak, Gordon etc still get three. In the PL you have to have an attacking threat and a way of getting your forwards involved. Positive is at least we have two shapes which offer different strengths.

I think a balanced view, and probably the accurate one is to say that we have signed some promising young talents to provide cover in central defence, have added a competent but unspectaular LB in Taylor. In all honesty we probably had no PL competition for those signings. We then replaced outgoings/expected outgoings (Adams and KWP) with players who look likely to be of a similar, decent level, albeit are unproven and in the case of Sugawara will clearly need time to adjust. Certainly cannot say we have hugely improved a team that finished 4th in the Championship. In goal, playing a style that is high risk and requires technical ability we have a keeper who is notoriously poor with his feet and who was 3rd choice for most of last season in the Championship, who has been awful in pre season and will start as #1. In attack as it stands we are undeniably massively short of giving ourselves a fighting chance. We are relying on Arma having a hugely greater impact than he managed before (4 PL goals in 2 whole seasons) and BBD who is still an unknown at this level in all honesty. To think people turn their nose up at the idea of someone like Danny Ings! The likes of Edozie, Mara, Sulemana did not really make an impact at Championship level yet will be the first attacking options off the bench as it stands, with Edozie quite possibly starting. Its not to say we need to go into mass panic because there is still a month left in the window but we absolutely have to sign at least two attacking players who are good enough to start 30+ games in the PL and ideally have some form of track record of scoring/assisting at a good level, plus a good GK who fits the style. If we think we can survive with just adding a couple more £8 - 12m players with potential it is clear we will get relegated, without question because the PL is ruthless and looks stronger this season than for the last few.

Interest in Molde midfielder Petter Rudi according to Dagbladet. Sheff Weds also keen.

Grit - tick Steel - tick Bite - tick Cliché bingo - complete

Wright was linked when we played aggressive, front footed football. We need a different profile now. I'm also unconvinced we have a LWB option if we go for that shape. Taylor seems to be preferred as a LB or LCB and someone like Edozie would get exposed if asked to do that role in a PL game.

With just over a couple of weeks left it seems to me that probably 9 players are nailed to start: McCarthy, Sugawara, Bednarek, THB, Downes, Smallbone, Aribo, Arma, BBD The only real decisions IMO would be whether is 3 or 4 at the back and therefore which two from Stephens, Manning, Taylor and Edozie get the nod to start. Hard to see anyone signed now being ready to start the first game but you never know. As it stands, attacking sub options will be woefully inadequate and likely worse than for many games last season.

As was the case at the start of the window, we massively need some additional quality in attacking areas. If you exclude Lallana (who was never going to be a key player) only one of our signings has been an attacking player. We have lost Adams, Brooks, Fraser and Stu who were all pretty key players and are currently relying upon Mara (didn't even make the bench in the playoff final), Stewart (cannot be relied upon to be available and huge jump in quality anyway), Sulemana (barely played in 2nd half of season) and Edozie (talented but no end product). Even Armstrong has massive question marks at PL level. BBD will help but we urgently need to bring in a couple of players who are instantly better than what we have - otherwise we will have zero chance of staying up. Its clear we will not be a team that is very difficult to break down defensively so we really need to be productive in attack. We are hoping to finish above the likes of Forest, Brentford, Wolves, Bournemouth etc but the substitute attackers for these teams would be amongst our best players as it stands! Plus we play two of these before the window shuts. Added some defensive depth this summer - although havent actually improved the team, but absolutely critical this happens in attack.

I would say what we need as a minimum from now is: - Striker - Wide forward - Attacking mid (O'Riley or similar) - Centre mid (Charles not favoured so need Downes cover that isn't WS) - Goalkeeper (loan having assumed Lis goes) After that full back cover which would depend on possible exits for Bree (not PL quality) and Manning (would probably be exposed) having taken KWP exit as a given. Wellington perhaps LB cover if he arrives before Jan. I am also expecting exits (probably on loan) for Sulemana and Alcaraz with Fraser likely to come in as a cheap squad filler. Anyone disagree with that?

This season should be the first where the multi club benefit is visible. With Goztepe being back in the Superlig deals like Matsuki are possible and there are still bargains to be had as long as you have somewhere to put them in order to see if they can reach PL level whilst gaining a WP. Will be massive if Saints and Goztepe can both stay up and Valenciennes get promoted.

Waiting for the inevitable Ornstein exclusive that <insert PL club aside from Saints (probably Brighton)> have agreed a £25m deal to sign O'Riley. Feels like its dragged on so long that if we were going to do it we would have already.

Looks like a good signing, nice age and experience, versatile and another good character. Not sure quite how a few judge him to be a definite 'upgrade' on Adams given he has played so few games in a top league. If he gets 10 PL goals he will have exceeded expectations IMO. Overall like our profile of signings so far but we definitely need one or two difference makers in attacking areas still.

Interesting bit of chat about the Edwards transfer on Darragh MacAntony's latest pod (Pboro Chairman). He said he knew Russell Martin liked Edwards and there was some interest last summer but we were sorting out our finances so nothing was progressed. He nearly went elsewhere in Jan also but DMac stopped it and said he would let him go this summer. Aside from Saints they had 4 or 5 offers from the Champ and one from L1 (assume Birmingham) but once Saints were in RE only wanted that move and refused to talk to any other clubs. Strongly implied no other PL clubs made offers. DMac a big fan of RM and signed him as a 20yo and thinks that he will develop RE into a player who will move to a top6 clubs for £50m+. Part of his approach is to sell players to teams that will likely sell again so he can make cash through the add ons, and he said there are significant opportunites to earn from the RE deal asde from the initial fee. He said PL teams have been put off RE by his height, saying he is a couple of inches too short but that he is actually decent in the air and thats proven by the various stats. As an aside he mentioned that RM passed a message onto him that he appreciated DMac's praise on the podcast last autumn where he said that despite a rocky start he was convinced RM would get Saints promoted...and he had been proven right. Football is an insular world and relationships are key (very much seems to be a strength of RM). DMac also said he was a bit suprised not to have dealt with Rasmus on this deal at all (guess it was via Parsons and Mowbray) - sounded like maybe they had some hard negotiations when Toney moved from Posh to Brentford. Anyway, nothing overly interesting but DMac a big fan of RE and RM and obviously financially hopes Saints and RE do well this season.